HarperCollins is proud to present its new series of beloved, essential classics. "How sad it is! I will grow old, terrible, and hideous. But this picture will always remain young... If only it were the other way around!" Wilde's first and only published novel tells the story of the handsome Dorian Gray, who, as his portrait is painted, expresses the wish that it ages and becomes ugly while he can remain eternally beautiful. The painting, which reflects each of Gray's sins and transgressions in its ugliness, haunts him until it becomes unbearable. In this dark tale of hypocrisy and mortality, Wilde creates a world where art and reality collide.