Set in the literary and journalistic buzz of late 19th-century London, New Grub Street depicts a world that George Gissing knew inside out. Elements of his own experience are diffused in different characters – in particular the struggling, talented Edwin Reardon and the young, "modern" Jasper Milvain – through which he explores the sense of crisis for writers at the time: the gulf between aesthetic integrity and commercial success. It was the first major novel to place the concept of authorship at the heart of the plot, and allowed late-Victorian readers a tantalizing glimpse behind the scenes of literary production. 

Written in a white heat of determination, New Grub Street marked a shift in Gissing’s fortunes – a triumphantly compelling, engaging work of fiction that opened doors to the recognition he deserved.