The Great Gatsby

Three weeks before it was published in 1925, the book that is often referred to as the Great American Novel had an alternative title, Trimalchio in West Egg. Fortunately Fitzgerald's publisher thought The Great Gatsby was better. Whether it would have made any difference to its success, who knows? I've deliberately eschewed listening to it, preferring to remember reading it myself, but William Hope's glorious interpretation is too good to miss. --Sue Arnold, The Guardian

F. Scott Fitzgerald's modern classic is one of the key novels of the twentieth century. Jay Gatsby is one of the most famous residents of Long Island, New York. His sumptuous mansion, lavish parties and glamorous lifestyle are renowned throughout the neighbourhood. And yet, beyond the status symbols, noone seems to know anything about this elusive, ephemeral figure. Gatsby seems to have it all. However, it soon becomes clear that the thing that he craves beyond all else cannot be bought. The Great Gatsby captures the hotbed of vice and corruption underlying the glitz and the glamour of the roaring twenties in the most exquisite prose.