Born in Exile

Godwin Peak is a man of fierce intelligence and restless ambition, trapped by a secret he cannot escape. Born illegitimately in a small English town, he rises through scholarship and sheer will, but the shadow of his birth follows him into London’s intellectual circles. When he falls in love with Sidwell Warricombe, a woman of breeding and faith, he must decide how much of his true self—including his atheism and his past—he can afford to reveal. As he climbs the social ladder, every step tightens the noose of deception. This modern retelling preserves Gissing’s penetrating insight into class, identity, and the loneliness of the outsider, while rendering the story in vivid, contemporary language. Here is a classic novel about the price of reinvention, the ache of exile, and the courage it takes to live honestly. Part of Timeless Classics.