The Sun Also Rises

Ernest Hemingway’s first novel gathers a group of American and British expatriates who drift through Paris cafes before heading south to the bullfights at Pamplona. At the center is Jake Barnes, a journalist left impotent by a war wound, and Lady Brett Ashley, the woman he loves and cannot have. Around them a restless circle drinks, quarrels, and chases distraction, their aimlessness standing in for a generation hollowed out by the First World War. Written in the spare, understated prose that made Hemingway famous, the 1926 book gave the Lost Generation its defining portrait and remains one of the great American novels of disillusionment. Free to download here as a PDF and EPUB edition.