NEW YORK (AFP) - The elegant home where F. Scott Fitzgerald began writing one of America's most celebrated novels, The Great Gatsby, is on sale on New York's Long Island for just over US$3.8 million (S$5 million).

The seven-bedroom manor house is in Great Neck, where Fitzgerald and his beautiful wife Zelda lived from 1922 to 1924.

The wealthy enclave and its Gold Coast parties inspired the famous 1925 novel, an American classic that came to define the excesses and extravagances of the 1920s.

The home that inspired the mansion of Fitzgerald's character, the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby, is thought to be on King's Point of the Great Neck peninsula, south of the Fitzgerald home.

The author began work on the novel at the Great Neck house, before moving to France to finish the book.

Listed by real estate brokers Coldwell Banker, the 5,000 sq ft property has a large kitchen, a vaulted-ceiling dining area, a music room, seven bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms.

Built in 1918, it has ornate mouldings and custom-built mahogany cabinetry throughout the home, as well as several fireplaces.

The master suite, located in its own wing, features a balcony, large closets and an ensuite bath.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to own a piece of history," said real estate broker Inbar Mitzman.