When F. Scott Fitzgerald died, he thought he was a failure. wanted The Great Gatsby to be read in a day, two at max.

The Classic - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

We had a first with this pairing. We picked our classic based on what we wanted to feature as its modern companion. The highly anticipated reimagining of The Great Gatsby, Jillian Cantor's Beautiful Little Fools, puts the women of the book at center stage. If you are just as excited as we are about this reimagination, then it may be time for a reread of the book considered "The Great American Novel."

A fascinating post stated that F. Scott Fitzgerald wanted The Great Gatsby to be read in a day, two at max. Contently, the average reader could finish it in just over two and a half hours. Of course, you could scoff that Fitzgerald just wanted readers to complete it quickly so that they would purchase another book. Instead, his true intention was to capitalize on two elements he was trying to showcase – the brutality of time and the complexity of human nature.

If you take the challenge and read it the way he intends, the story does not allow the reader enough time to justify the shady actions taken by each character. He felt that morals were starting to disappear in the 1920s and that the pursuit of the ultimate American Dream, as in to reach the elite 1%, would require people to make questionable decisions. In the end, it might not truly make them happy.

Those who read it slowly are more likely to watch the symbols, the lyrical writing, and the continued modern relevancy, as Fitzgerald wrote ahead of his time. But what both types of readers will understand is humanity's complexity and ever-unchanging nature.

A quintessential tale of money and power, marriage and friendship, love and desire, and ultimately the murder of a man tormented by the past and driven by a destructive longing that can never be fulfilled.

Sadly, Fitzgerald died thinking he was a failure (1940). It wasn't until World War II when troops were given copies of The Great Gatsby for the book to become the classic it is considered today.

The Great Gatsby

by Fitzgerald, F Scott

The Great Gatsby (1925) is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published at the height of Fitzgerald's career as a leading writer of American fiction, The Great Gatsby was reviewed poorly by contemporary critics, but has since been recognized as a groundbreaking work for its vision of American decadence and decay. Adapted into several influential films and adored by generations of readers and writers, The Great Gatsby is not only Fitzgerald's crowning achievement but one of the finest novels ever written. Nick Carraway is a young veteran and Yale graduate who moves to New York in search of work. He rents a bungalow on Long Island next door to the extravagant mansion of Jay Gatsby, a magnanimous millionaire with a mysterious past. There, he reconnects with his distant cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan, a flagrant philanderer who brings Nick to the city in order to spend time with Myrtle, his impoverished mistress. Soon, he receives an invitation to a party at the Gatsby mansion, where he gets terribly drunk and meets his neighbor, who swears they served together in the Great War. As time goes by, the two begin a tenuous friendship bolstered by stories of the war and a mutual fondness for alcohol. When Nick discovers that Gatsby and Daisy have a complicated history with one another, he starts to question not only the nature of his neighbor's kindness, but his own desire to make it big in New York. The Great Gatsby is a tragic tale of ambition and romance set in the Roaring Twenties, a decade born from war and lost to economic disaster. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this new edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is a classic work of American literature reimagined for modern readers.

Our Modern Companion - Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor

Read a preview of Beautiful Little Fools.

Beautiful Little Fools

by Cantor, Jillian

"Jillian Cantor beautifully re-crafts an American classic in Beautiful Little Fools, placing the women of The Great Gatsby center stage: more than merely beautiful, not so little as the men in their lives assume, and certainly far from foolish. Both fresh and familiar, this page-turner is one to savor!" – Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code

USA Today bestselling author Jillian Cantor reimagines and expands on the literary classic The Great Gatsby in this atmospheric historical novel with echoes of Big Little Lies, told in three women's alternating voices.

On a sultry August day in 1922, Jay Gatsby is shot dead in his West Egg swimming pool. To the police, it appears to be an open-and-shut case of murder/suicide when the body of George Wilson, a local mechanic, is found in the woods nearby.

Then a diamond hairpin is discovered in the bushes by the pool, and three women fall under suspicion. Each holds a key that can unlock the truth to the mysterious life and death of this enigmatic millionaire.

Daisy Buchanan once thought she might marry Gatsby--before her family was torn apart by an unspeakable tragedy that sent her into the arms of the philandering Tom Buchanan.

Jordan Baker, Daisy's best friend, guards a secret that derailed her promising golf career and threatens to ruin her friendship with Daisy as well.

Catherine McCoy, a suffragette, fights for women's freedom and independence, and especially for her sister, Myrtle Wilson, who's trapped in a terrible marriage.

Their stories unfold in the years leading up to that fateful summer of 1922, when all three of their lives are on the brink of unraveling. Each woman is pulled deeper into Jay Gatsby's romantic obsession, with devastating consequences for all of them.

Jillian Cantor revisits the glittering Jazz Age world of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, retelling this timeless American classic from the women's perspective. Beautiful Little Fools is a quintessential tale of money and power, marriage and friendship, love and desire, and ultimately the murder of a man tormented by the past and driven by a destructive longing that can never be fulfilled.

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