Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
This is one of my all-time favourites. Fitzgerald published it in 1934, nine years after The Great Gatsby, and the title comes from Keats’s poem Ode to a Nightingale. It opens on the French Riviera in the 1920s, where a young American actress, Rosemary Hoyt, falls in with a glamorous couple, Dick and Nicole Diver, and their circle of friends.
Dick is a promising young psychiatrist and Nicole was once his patient. As the story moves back in time we learn how they met at a clinic in Switzerland, and then follow their marriage over the years that come after. Fitzgerald drew on his own life with his wife Zelda, who was treated for mental illness, and Nicole’s illness is at the heart of the story.
For me it’s a complex story of the dynamics within relationships, and how the rescuer turns out to be the one in need of rescue.
It’s slower and sadder than Gatsby, and the writing is beautiful. Some of the attitudes are very much of the 1920s and 30s, and the themes of mental illness, drinking and a marriage coming apart may be heavy going for some readers. If anything in it brings up difficult feelings, please reach out for support.
Why you might enjoy it: If you love classic fiction, the Jazz Age, or stories that look closely at what happens between two people over many years, this is well worth your time.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Have you read Tender Is the Night, or do you prefer Gatsby? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Want to read more?
