First published 2014
Gordon Comstock has abandoned a promising advertising career to pursue poetry, choosing poverty over compromise. Broke and bitter, he works a miserable bookshop job while dreaming of literary greatness. His girlfriend Rosemary stands by him, but their relationship buckles under financial strain. As Gordon's idealistic rebellion against capitalist society crumbles, he confronts the harsh reality that artistic integrity might cost him everything—love, stability, and self-respect. When an unexpected turn forces him to choose between principle and survival, Gordon must decide if his artistic vision is worth the total destruction of his life.
Genres: fiction, romance, literary-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Big Brother
Period: 20th-century
277 pages · Paperback · Penguin Classics