Penguin Classics: The Whirlpool

Description:

'The Whirlpool! . . . It's got hold of me, and I'm going down old man - and it looks black as hell'

Harvey Rolfe is a confirmed bachelor until he meets the fascinating musician Alma: restless, ambitious, dissatisfied. Through the story of their doomed marriage - one of jealousy, faithlessness and financial disaster - The Whirlpool creates an unforgettable picture of the maelstrom of late-Victorian London, as its cast of characters cling desperately to their respectable world of gentleman's clubs and private incomes, terrified it will be swept away. Written in the shadow of George Gissing's own unhappy domestic life, his astonishing 1897 novel encapsulates the glamour and darkness of the end of a century.

With an introduction by D. J. Taylor and notes by Patrick Parrinder