Summary of Tender is the Night
Dick Diver, a young psychiatrist, and his wife Nicole rent a villa on the French Riviera in the late 1920s, where they socialise with other expatriates. On the surface, they are a glamourous and happy couple, but beneath this façade lies a growing sense of insecurity and tragedy. Following rumours of Nicole’s mental breakdown, the couple moves to Paris, where they are joined by Rosemary Hoyt, a young actress they befriended in southern France, who is in love with Dick.
Reasons to read Tender is the Night
“Tender is the Night” is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most personal novel, chronicling the collapse of an outwardly perfect couple into turmoil and despair. The novel mirrors Fitzgerald’s own marital problems, including his affair with a Hollywood actress, his wife’s descent into mental illness, and his battle with the bottle. F. Scott Fitzgerald, an American writer who spent many years in Europe, is best known for his novels “This Side of Paradise”, “The Great Gatsby”, and “Tender is the Night”. Although Fitzgerald considered “Tender is the Night” his masterpiece, it initially received disappointing sales and mixed reviews. Fitzgerald, who never won a literary award during his lifetime, is now recognised as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Both “The Great Gatsby” and “Tender is the Night” have been included on the Modern Library’s list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Setting: France, Switzerland, Italy
Book set in France: French Riviera (likely Antibes) and Paris; Switzerland: Zurich; and Italy: Rome
Original title: Tender is the Night
Year of publication: 1934
Nr of pages: 320
