by Oscar Wilde
First published 2005
Jack Worthing leads a double life: a responsible guardian in the countryside, and a carefree bachelor named Ernest in London. His friend Algernon Moncrieff discovers Jack's elaborate fiction and decides to mirror the deception, inventing a perpetually invalid friend to escape social obligations. When both men pursue romantic interests—Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew—their fabricated identities collide in a satirical whirlwind of mistaken names, unexpected revelations, and Victorian social pretensions. As marriage proposals and family secrets unravel, both men must navigate the razor's edge between truth and performance. The ultimate question becomes not just who they are, but who they want to be perceived as.
Genres: fiction, drama, satire, literary-fiction, comedy, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: double-life, mistaken-identity, social-commentary
Setting: London, Victorian
Period: 19th-Century
89 pages · Paperback · Prestwick House