Great Gatsby (Modern Library trade paperback edition)

For generations of enthralled readers, the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby has come to embody all the glamour and decadence of the Roaring Twenties.

To Nick Carraway, Gatsby appears to have emerged out of nowhere, evading questions about his murky past and throwing dazzling parties at his luxurious Long Island mansion.

Nick finds something both appalling and appealing in the intensity of his neighbour's ambition to reinvent himself, and his fascination only grows when he discovers that Gatsby is driven by an obsession with a long-lost love, Daisy Buchanan.

But Daisy and her wealthy husband are cynical and careless people, and as Gatsby's dream collides with reality, Nick is witness to the violence and tragedy that result.

The Great Gatsby's remarkable staying power is owed to the lyrical freshness of its storytelling and to the way it illuminates the hollow core of the glittering American dream.