Showing results by author "Arnold Bennett" in All Categories

The Old Wives' Tale is broken up into four parts, and the lives of two sisters are laid bare: one timid and unassuming, the other romantic and adventurous. From working as children in their family's drapery shop to their later years, Constance and Sophia's journey through life could not be more different. While one travels the world and defies male expectations, the other becomes a dutiful wife and mother.

In Ghost - A Modern Fantasy, we follow Carl Foster, a newly qualified doctor, as he arrives in London with dreams of success. His life takes a dramatic turn when he encounters the renowned tenor, Signor Alresca, who suffers a horrific backstage injury. As Carl tends to Alresca, he becomes captivated by the lead soprano, Rosetta Rosa, igniting a passionate love affair. Under Alrescas mentorship, Carl travels to Bruges, where he uncovers the tenors unsettling obsessions and is shadowed by a mysterious stranger. The atmosphere darkens further when Alrescas sudden death leaves Carl entangled in a ...

This classic personal time-management book, originally published in 1908, has inspired generations of men and women to live deliberate lives. Not just another collection of timesaving tips, this book is more of a challenge to leave behind mundane everyday concerns, focus on pursuing one's true desires, and live the fullest possible life. Reflection, concentration, and study techniques make it easier to accomplish more truly rewarding undertakings than anyone ever dreamed possible.

Written in 1911, The Card is the story of Edward Henry (Denry) Machin, who rises from washerwoman's son to the Mayor of Bursley (Burslem in the Potteries town of Stoke-on-Trent) via a mixture of gentle deceit and personal hype. He is literally a trickster of confidence. His rise to fame is begun at an exclusive ball to which he has got himself invited, where he has the audacity to claim a dance with the glamourous but imposing Countess of Chell.

Set in stifled, industrial Staffordshire in the late 19th century, against a strong evangelical background, Anna of the Five Towns tells of the courting of hard businessman Ephraim Tellright's daughter by prosperous and accomplished Henry Mynors. As her father's fortune grows, so does Anna understanding. She realises her legacy and responsibility for the possible ruination of her father's tenants, Titus Price and his son, Willie, who also loves her.

In this radical reinterpretation of six brilliant Arnold Bennett novels, it’s the 19th-century Midlands and over 10-and-a-half sweeping hours individuals rise and fall, they age, flourish, and try to keep up as the world around them changes into something unrecognisable, transformed by new technology. Fortunes are made and lost, hearts broken, empires built and deals made. These tales of aspiration and passion, damage and danger are told with Bennett's forensic, (journalist’s) eye for human psychology and a surprising degree of witty comedy.

Spanning nearly half a century, The Old Wives Tale is epic in scale and scope, tracing as it does the effects of time on two sisters and their surroundings. The novel is a domestic story told with tenderness, and is concerned not with heroic statesmen or soldiers, but with small details of daily life in a way which demonstrates Bennett’s great debt to French realist writers. The action is concentrated mainly within the provincial town of Bursley, a startling contrast to Paris where Sophia and Gerald elope.

It is 1919 shortly after the termination of the 1st European holocaust. Henry Earlforward, a middle aged North London Bookseller, courts and marries Violet Arb, a widow who has inherited the confectioners shop opposite his own premises in Riceyman Square. Henry and Violet engage the services of Elsie as ‘charwoman’.

With the advent of the modern corporate workplace in the twenty-first century, more and more people are toiling away behind desks, wearily clocking the standard forty-hour week. By 1910, author Arnold Bennett had observed a worrying trend of exhausted wage earners whose waking hours revolved around their jobs and who had little time to spend on the business of actually living. Self-improvement was Bennett's prescription for a speedy escape from the woes of the rat race.

In Man from the North, Richard Larch, a spirited young man hailing from the north of England, ventures to London with dreams of striking it rich. By day, he diligently serves as a clerk in an office, but his true passion lies in writing. Alongside his literary aspirations, he is on a quest to find the perfect partner. This captivating tale chronicles Richard’s journey as he navigates the challenges of ambition and romance, drawing inspiration from Bennetts own life experiences in his debut novel. (Summary by Simon Evers)

Arnold Bennett's... splendidly comic portrayal of Edward Henry Machin, known as Denry to his mother to save time, is set in Bursley, one of the author's Five Towns of Staffordshire. Starting in 1897, when Denry first saw the smoke of the potbanks, the tale chronicles his rise to fame and wealth including such events as improving his exam results to guarantee success, adjusting the guest list of the municipal ball to include himself and then daring to ask the Countess of Chell to dance!

You have to live on twenty-four hours of daily time. Out of it you have to spin health, pleasure, money, content, respect, and the evolution of your immortal soul. This timeless classic is one of the first self-help books ever written and was a best-seller in both England and America. It remains as useful today as when it was written, and offers fresh and practical advice on how to make the most of the daily miracle of life.

Learn to use your most precious commodity—time—to truly live. Arnold Bennett’s classic book, How to Live on 24 Hours a Day, has been changing the way people use and consider their time since it was first published in 1910. In the intervening century surprisingly little has changed—we...

When American millionaire Theodore Racksole and his 23-year-old daughter Nella stumble upon The Grand Babylon Hotel, an exclusive London establishment, they are so struck by the fascinating building that Theodore decides to purchase it. But soon a criminal conspiracy arises that endangers that purchase, and Theodore and Nella must turn detective to protect it. 

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Arnold Bennett's tale of love, tyranny and rebellion, 'Anna of the Five Towns'. Brought up in the repressive tradition of Methodism by her miserly father, Anna Tellwright dreams of independence and freedom. On coming of age she learns that she is to inherit a...

Helen Rathbone meets her elderly uncle, James Ollerenshaw, in Bursley Park, after an estrangement of several years. Both are very strong-willed, independent characters. Helen has an extravagant lifestyle and likes to spend money while the old man has lived a thrifty life and intends to continue in the same way. However, they develop a friendship which progresses rapidly, and Helen moves in to James' house to look after him.

A grisly collection of despicable crimes told by some of the world's best writers.

This collection of short stories contains several gothic tales to bear macabre and chilling witness to writers as diverse as Rudyard Kipling, Guy De Maupassant, Edgar Allan Poe, Arnold Bennett, Daniel Defoe, Edith Nesbit and M.R. James. These tales are designed to unsettle you, just a little, while you sit back, and take in their words as they lead you on a walk to places you’d perhaps rather not visit on your own. Our stories include "My Own True Ghost Story" by Rudyard Kipling, "The Horla" by Guy De Maupassant, and more.

Old Adam follows Edward Henry Machin, a self-made man from the English Midlands, who finds himself restless despite his success. When a chance windfall inspires him to seek adventure, he plunges into the theatrical world of London, navigating ambition, romance, and self-discovery. A witty and insightful novel exploring ambition and identity.

Arnold Bennett was an English novelist and author. Among his most popular novels are The Grand Babylon Hotel and Anna of the Five Towns. However, none of his novels approached the popularity of his little book, "How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day." It caused a sensation when first printed and continues to be printed and widely read today. In it, he offers practical advice on how one might live (as opposed to just existing ) within the confines of 24 hours a day.