THE FOLIO SOCIETY

Dick Diver plans to be a great psychologist, perhaps the greatest ever. Why then does he abandon his ambition to marry one of his patients, beautiful heiress Nicole Warren? Once married, the Divers play out their lives against the sun-drenched, blue-sky backdrop of the French Riviera – holding court on golden beaches, throwing fabulous fashionable parties, creating a magical atmosphere that enchants everyone they meet. Then Dick becomes involved with a Hollywood starlet, Rosemary Hoyt, and the fragile ties that bind him to Nicole unravel. As they are finally driven to confront the dark secret that haunts their marriage, it seems that only one of them can truly survive. Of all his novels, Tender is the Night, which Fitzgerald called ‘a confession of faith’, is perhaps the closest to his heart, reflecting the turmoil of his own life. Its depiction of social and sexual decadence, of loss and loneliness, transcends the personal to create a compelling portrait of a world rushing towards its own terrifying crack-up.