《巴塞尔和约瑟芬》描绘了来自宁静的中西部小镇的两个特权青年的成长历程，他们是巴塞尔•杜克•李和约瑟芬•佩里——以菲茨杰拉德本人和他的初恋情人吉内芙拉•金与妻子泽尔达的合体为原型。一个想方设法获得同龄人的认可并被野心所吞噬，另一个则着迷于青少年的暗恋，不得不面对受欢迎所隐藏的陷阱。这些故事是作者在创作《夜色温柔》时为《星期六晚邮报》写的，刻画了1910年代两个年轻人的真实而有趣的形象。

Basil and Josephine charts the coming of age of two privileged youths from quiet Midwestern towns, Basil Duke Lee and Josephine Perry - based on Fitzgerald himself and a combination of his first love Ginevra King and his wife Zelda. As one struggles to gain the acceptance of his peers and becomes consumed by ambition, the other finds herself obsessed by teenage crushes and has to confront the pitfalls of popularity. Written for the Saturday Evening Post while the author was working on Tender Is the Night, these stories form a realistic and entertaining portrait of two young adults in the 1910s, fascinating both for the autobiographical insights they provide and the timeless satire that Fitzgerald's fiction has become synonymous with.