In The Perfect Hour, biographer James L. W. West III reveals the
never-before told story of the romance between F. Scott Fitzgerald
and his first love, Ginevra King. They met in January 1915, when
Scott was nineteen, a Princeton student, and sixteen-year-old
Ginevra, socially poised and confident, was a sophomore at Westover
School. Their romance flourished in heartfelt letters and quickly
ran its course–but Scott never forgot it. Ginevra became the
inspiration for Isabelle Borgé in This Side of Paradise and the
model for Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby. Scott also wrote
short stories inspired by her–including “Babes in the Woods” and
“Winter Dreams,” which, along with Ginevra’s own story featuring
Scott are reprinted in this volume. With access to Ginevra’s
personal diary, love letters, photographs, and Scott’s own
scrapbook, West tells the beguiling story of youthful passion that
shaped Scott Fitzgerald’s life as a writer.
For Scott and Ginevra, “the perfect hour” was private code for a
fleeting time they almost shared and then yearned after for the
rest of their lives. Now West brings that perfect hour back to life
in all its freshness, delicacy, and poignant brevity.