The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Jay
Ryan Douglass
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
4.00
· 2 ratings · 384 pages · Published: 27 Jan 2026
Seventeen-year-old Nick Carrington wants nothing more than to leave Greenwood, Oklahoma, behind and make a name for himself in the papers. But when tragedy strikes, dreams turn into a twisted reality. Forced to start anew in Harlem, only a letter of acceptance from the prestigious West Egg Academy is able to pull him back into the world.
But the supposedly integrated private boys’ school is more of a catchy headline than a fact, with the same prejudices Nick left behind back home. And his secret but growing feelings for the founder’s wickedly charismatic son, Jay Gatsby Jr.— who dances past society’s conventions with practiced ease—only add more complications.
When Nick’s cutting pen exposes dangerous truths about West Egg and leads to perilous consequences, he and Jay must decide whether to spend a lifetime outrunning trouble or be the ones to light the match. Can they not only fight back but triumph? Or will the powers that be win yet again?
Tagged as:
- romance 3
- retellings 3
- historical fiction 3
- high-school 2
- historical 2
- lgbtq+ 2
- coming of age 2
- protagonists of colour 1
- 20th century 1
- Add topics
- format - reader age
- young adult 3
- book 1