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'Marriage rarely means happiness, either for man or woman; if it be not too grievous to be borne, one must thank the fates and take courage'. The greatest of English realist novelists, famous for New Grub Street , George Gissing creates in The Whirlpool an astonish picture of characters caught in the vortex of London, struggling to understand how they can make sense of their lives in a society of remorseless faithlessness and social snobbery. A whole era is magnificently brought to life in all its glamour and squalor - and at the book's heart lies one of the most remarkable figures in English literature: Alma Rolfe, torn between an idyll of rural domesticity and her career in London as a musician.
About the author
George Gissing (1857-1903) wrote a series of startling novels principally set in London, including
New Grub Street,
The Whirlpool,
The Nether World and
The Odd Women. He lived a chaotic, often poverty-striken life from which he frequently drew for his fiction. He is generally viewed as the greatest English realist novelist. He was a friend and contemporary of Joseph Conrad, H.G. Wells and Henry James.
Summary
The greatest of English realist novelists, famous for New Grub Street, the author creates an astonish picture of characters caught in the vortex of London, struggling to understand how they can make sense of their lives in a society of remorseless faithlessness and social snobbery.
