First published in 1922, The Beautiful and the Damned is the second novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Embellished with the author's lyrical prose, it tells the story of Harvard-educated, aspiring aesthete Anthony Patch and his beautiful wife, Gloria. As they await the inheritance of his grandfather's fortune, their reckless marriage sways under the influence of alcohol and avarice. It explores and portrays New York cafe society and the American Eastern elite during the Jazz Age before and after "The Great War" and in the early 1920's.