"New Grub Street," is George Gissing's grimly realistic exploration of literary life in 1880s London.  Grimly realistic in its depiction of what it was like to be a struggling writer in late nineteenth century London, "a society where," "literature has become a commodity, and where the writing of fiction does not differ radically from any other form of commercial or industrial production."

"New Grub Street" depicts two literary figures, Edwin Reardon, a struggling novelist who aspires to write great literature without regard to its popular appeal, and Jasper Milvain, a self-centered, materialistic climber whose only concern is with achieving financial success and social position by publishing what the mass public wants to read.

"New Grub Street" is deservedly regarded not only as Gissing's finest novel, but also as one of the finest novels of late nineteenth century English literature, remarkable for its historical accuracy and literary craftsmanship.

GEORGE GISSING (1857-1903) was an English novelist, most famous for The Odd Women, The Nether World, Demos, and New Grub Street. His work was highly praised, and critics placed him alongside Thomas Hardy and George Meredith as one of the three foremost novelists in England. Sir William Robertson Nicoll described Gissing as "one of the most original, daring and conscientious workers in fiction." G.K. Chesterton called him the "soundest of the Dickens critics, a man of genius." George Orwell was an admirer, and called Gissing "perhaps the best novelist England has ever produced".