George Robert Gissing was an English novelist who published twenty-three novels between 1880 and 1903. Although his early works are naturalistic, he developed into one of the the most accomplished realists of the late-Victorian era. Born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, to lower-middle class parents, Gissing went on to win a scholarship to Owens College, the present day Victoria University of Manchester. A brilliant student, he excelled at university, winning many coveted prizes, including the Shakespeare scholarship prize in 1875. Between 1891 and 1897, he produced his best works, which include *New Grub Street*, *Born in Exile*, *The Odd Women*, *In the Year of Jubilee*, and *The Whirlpool*. By the end of the century, critics placed him with Thomas Hardy and George Meredith as one of three leading novelists in England. He was friends with H. G. Wells and his wife. Source [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gissing)