Gadsby is a 1939 novel by Ernest Vincent Wright which does not include any words that contain the letter E, the most common letter in English. A work that deliberately avoids certain letters is known as a lipogram. The plot revolves around the dying fictional city of Branton Hills, which is revitalized as a result of the efforts of protagonist John Gadsby and a youth organizer. Despite Wright's claim, published versions of the book may contain a handful of uses of the letter "e". The 1939 first edition, for example, contains "the" three times and "officers" once.