F. Scott Fitzgerald’s second novel—written at a pivotal moment in his
career—is now available in a beautifully designed special collector’s
edition. The Beautiful and Damned is a stunning satire of the glamorous but
doomed marriage between Anthony Patch and his wife, Gloria. Harvard-
educated Patch is waiting for his inheritance upon his grandfather’s death.
His marriage to Gloria is fueled by alcohol and destroyed by greed. This
shallow, pleasure-seeking couple race through a series of fiascoes—first in
hilarity, then in despair. A devastating portrait of the nouveaux rich, New
York nightlife, reckless ambition, and squandered talent, The Beautiful and
Damned was published in 1922 on the heels of Fitzgerald’s first novel, This
Side of Paradise. This keenly observed novel signaled Fitzgerald’s maturity
as a storyteller and confirmed his enormous talent as a novelist.