Amazon.com description: Product Description: Between 1880 and 1903 Gissing wrote 23 novels. His early works were naturalistic and later he wrote in a realistic style. Gissing it considered to be a late Victorian author. Harvey Rolfe lives a quiet life in London. His life is disrupted when bankruptcy and a suicide bring Alma Frothingham into his life. Alma wants to become a professional violinist while Harvey wants the quiet life. Harvey falls into a whirlpool of decadence and materialism which he had tried so hard to avoid.