F. Scott Fitzgerald 
The Great Gatsby 

Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, the novel depicts narrator Nick Carraway’s interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby, and Gatsby’s obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.

The novel was inspired by a youthful romance Fitzgerald had with a socialite, and by parties he attended on Long Island’s North Shore in 1922. Following a move to the French Riviera, he completed a rough draft in 1924. After its publication in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews from literary critics and sold poorly. Fitzgerald died in 1940, believing himself to be a failure and his work forgotten. During World War II, the novel faced a critical re-examination and soon became a core part of most American high school curricula. Numerous stage and film adaptations followed in the subsequent decades. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary masterwork and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel.