In the Year of Jubilee (1894) is a novel by George Gissing. Inspired by his own struggles as a working writer and unhappily married man, Gissing crafts a tale of romance and ambition that measures the dreams of one woman against the realities of an unjust society. In the Year of Jubilee poses important questions about convention in Victorian England while proving surprisingly relevant for our own times. Nancy Lord is a young, well-educated woman raised by a single father following the death of her mother. After completing her schooling, Nancy looks forward to a life of independence and success, but struggles with an inability to focus her ambition. In a moment of uncertainty, she allows herself to be wooed by Lionel Tarrant, a handsome and charming young man who promises her love and security. The two are soon married, but when Nancy becomes pregnant her husband decides to leave for the Bahamas, swearing he must do so in order to provide for his wife and child. Alone and heartbroken, Nancy steels herself, lowers her aspirations, and finds work as a dressmaker at a shop owned by Beatrice, the sibling of her sister-in-law Fanny. Meanwhile, her brother Horace wallows in an unhappy marriage while failing as a businessman and disappointing his elderly father. When Lionel returns, he gains his way back into Nancy’s life through pity, relying on her to provide for the family while controlling and limiting her life. In the Year of Jubilee explores the inequities of class and gender in Victorian England while suggesting that the struggle for happiness is often what drives us to misery. This edition of George Gissing’s In the Year of Jubilee is a classic work of English literature reimagined for modern readers.
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About the author
George Gissing (1857-1903) was an English novelist. Born in Yorkshire, he excelled as a student from a young age, earning a scholarship to Owens College where he won prizes for his poetry and academic writing. Expelled and arrested for a series of thefts in 1876, Gissing was forced to leave England for the United States, teaching classics and working as a short story writer in Massachusetts and Chicago. The following year, he returned to England and embarked on a career as a professional novelist, publishing works of naturalism inspired by his experience of poverty and the works of Charles Dickens. After going through an acrimonious divorce, Gissing remarried in 1891 and entered a turbulent relationship with Edith Alice Underwood, with whom he raised two children before separating in 1897. During this time, after writing several unpublished novels, Gissing found success with New Grub Street (1891), Born in Exile (1892), and The Odd Women (1893). In the last years of his life, Gissing befriended H.G. Wells and travelled throughout Italy, Germany, and France, where he died after falling ill during a winter walk.More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
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