This Side of Paradise

Scott Fitzgerald's debut novel, written when he was twenty-four, appeared in 1920 and immediately established him as a leading literary figure in the brilliant and dangerous world of 1920s America. Its instant appeal could be compared to the success of The Catcher in the Rye thirty years later. The novel tells the story of a spoilt child in search of happiness. Pampered, wealthy, brilliant at school, Amory Blaine looks for the love of others but only finds himself. A short, sharp masterpiece with an intriguing religious undertow, this is also a touchingly autobiographical novel which reflects ominously on Fitzgerald's own future.