The Forsyte Saga »

John Galsworthy (1867-1933) was educated at Oxford, where he prepared to go into law, but later decided to devote himself to writing. The Man of Property (1906), the first of the three novels that became The Forsyte Saga, established his reputation as an author and a keen observer of society. Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.

The three novels which make up The Forsyte Saga chronicle the ebbing social power of the commercial upper-middle class Forsyte family between 1886 and 1920. Galsworthy's masterly narrative examines not only their fortunes but also the wider developments within society, particularly the changing position of women. This is the only critical edition of the work available, with Notes that explain contemporary artistic and literary allusions and define the slang of the time.