RENOWNED for New Grub Street and The Odd Woman, Gissing was a notable member of the literary ‘club’ which included James, Conrad and Hardy.
But, his obsession with an alcoholic prostitute shaped his life. He stole to keep her in drink, was imprisoned and spent a year in exile.
Disgraced and burdened by a daily misery he could not cast off, Gissing attempted redemption through writing. Brooding over self-inflicted wounds and fuelled by his imagination, he produced some of the most important and realistic novels of Victorian London.
This is a compelling biography – a powerful account of one of the most melancholy lives in literature.
