About the Author

George [Robert] Gissing (1857-1903) was an important and idiosyncratic naturalistic 19th century novelist, often compared with great European writers. He remains read when many contemporaries are forgotten. The recent - and international - revival in his works remains strong. He was born at Wakefield. In 1880 he published at his own expense Workers in the Dawn. This was followed by major British and American houses issuing a series of vivid fictions, including The Unclassed (1884); Isabel Clarendon (1886): Demos (1886); Thyrza (1887); A Life's Morning (1888); The Nether World (1889); The Emancipated (1890); New Grub Street (1891); Born in Exile (1892); The Odd Women (1893); In the Year of Jubilee (1894); The Whirlpool (1897), and The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903).