Wealth, poverty, and what it means to live a 'good life': this is the must-read story for fans of The Trading Game and The Psychology of Money.

A fantastically compelling personal story that is also the story of a generation . . . Told with perfect timing. - SIMON KUPER

Searing insights into the challenges of coming of age in the 21st century . . . an instructive tale about a smart young man looking to grow up in the precariousness of our time. - BLOOMBERG

FEATURED IN THE SUNDAY TIMES

AFTER THE RISE, THERE COMES A FALL

In 2020, Alexander Hurst was 29 years old and broke, living as a writer in a cramped Paris flatshare. There were murmurs that a global pandemic was coming. Financial stability seemed unattainable, so far removed from his reality - the reality of the generation who came of age during the 2008 financial crisis.

On a whim, he poured his meagre savings into highly risky options trading. Within a year this small set of stocks was worth $1.2 million. Enough to turn his life on its head - but not in the way he had imagined, as he began a slow-motion descent into losing it all.

In exploring Alexander's remarkable rise and fall from wealth, Generation Desperation grapples with the vital questions of our age: what do class and status mean in a late-stage capitalist society? Can everyone really build the life they want? Or is there a cost to pursuing money above everything?

Generation Desperation is an urgent, unmissable fable for our times.

'Has an appealing timelessness . . .

Hurst weaves the personal and the generational together with seamless ease in a thrilling book. - SEB EMINA

'A riveting, tender, and painfully timely epic about what really matters.'

- ANGELICA FERRARA

'Clever and brutally honest.'

- LINDSEY TRAMUTA