The Beautiful and the Damned

"Here's to alcohol, the rose colored glasses of life."

-F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned (1922)




The Beautiful and Damned (1922) followed F. Scott Fitzgerald's critically acclaimed first novel, This Side of Paradise (1920) and cinched his place as a noted author of his time. The plot centers on Anthony, a socialite awaiting an inheritance and his marriage to Gloria, a beauty partying to the point of alcoholism. Their fading infatuation and troubled marriage evoke the themes of class, wealth, and greed for which Fitzgerald is famous. The work, likely based on the author's marriage to socialite Zelda, is essential for those who love Fitzgerald, the Jazz Age, and historical fiction.