The Picture of Dorian Gray

A perfect depiction of fin-de-siècle decadence, Oscar Wilde’s only novel highlights the tension between the polished surface and murky depths of Victorian high society.

Dorian Gray is young, arrogant and devastatingly handsome. Confronted by his beauty in the form of a portrait, and struck by the terrible realization that he will age, Dorian wishes to retain his charms for ever and finds his desire granted. He abandons himself to a life of hedonism, vice and murder, yet his face remains unmarked by his evil. But, hidden in his attic, the painting ages and corrupts, and one day Dorian must stand face to face with the man he has become.

Parties and Passions, Mrs Dalloway and The Great Gatsby are also available in this Macmillan Collector’s Library series of gorgeous paperbacks featuring the greatest parties and the wildest passions in literature.