The Jubilee marks the fiftieth year of the reign of Queen Victoria. Dickensian in its sweeping scope of London life, Gissing’s "In the Year of the Jubilee" (1834) depicts the...

Before he was 21 George Gissing conceived the ambition of writing a long series of novels, somewhat in the manner of Balzac, whom he admired. The first of these, Workers in the...

After losing his fortune, a gentleman is forced to find work as a common grocer, leading to a profound crisis of identity. He must hide his "shameful" occupation from his friends...

Godwin Peak attempts to escape his humble roots by feigning a religious conversion, hoping to win the heart of an aristocratic woman. This deceptive path leads him into a...

A modest household is thrown into a comedic tailspin when they take in a boarder who refuses to adhere to their rules of decorum. The resulting social friction reveals the...

In the literary trenches of Victorian London, writers trade their health and souls for a few lines of copy in a crowded marketplace. Edwin Reardon’s artistic decline is...

Milvain, one of the two central characters of the novel is a modern young man driven by pure financial ambition in navigating his literary career. He accepts that he will always...

Richard Mutimer is a young lower-class working-man who unexpectedly inherits a large fortune. He becomes the leader of a socialist movement and decides to use his inheritance to...

A beautiful, working-class dreamer becomes the focal point of a tragic conflict between high-minded idealism and the cold reality of social status. Her purity of spirit inspires...

A sudden inheritance transforms a socialist laborer into a capitalist landlord, exposing the rot beneath his lofty ideals. As his personal life fractures, the violent...