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 readable, engaging work of fiction that opened doors to the recognition he deserved.