Books by Arnold Bennett

Nella, daughter of millionaire Theodore Racksole, orders a dinner of steak and beer at the exclusive Grand Babylon Hotel in London. But when hotel staff begin to vanish and a German prince goes missing, Nella discovers that murder, blackmail and kidnapping are also on the menu.

Miserly and mysterious, the richest man in the Five Towns lives simply, ruling his household with an iron fist and a cruel temper. But when she comes of age, Anna inherits a small fortune and attracts the attentions of the town's most eligible bachelor.

No longer a boy, not quite a man, Edwin Clayhanger stands on a canal bridge on his last day of school, and surveys the valley of Bursley and the Five Towns.

Growing up in the world of the 'five towns' of industrial England, with their furnaces and chimneys, huddled red-brown streets, prayer meetings and small-minded bigotry, Anna is dominated by her miserly and tyrannical father. When she inherits a fortune and finds love, she struggles to break free from the constraints upon her, even though she is torn between duty and her deepest feelings. Arnold's novel of parental tyranny and rebellion is a portrayal of a woman of great spirit, complexity and integrity. 'Deeply moving, original, and dealing with material that I had never encountered in fiction, but only in life' Margaret Drabble

Set in the raw, Victorian world of the 'Five Towns', The Card tells the extremely funny and tangled story of Denry Machin's rise from mediocrity to fame through a series of ludicrous and yet perversely successful schemes. He dances, pleads, cheats and inspires his way through life in a series of set-pieces which wonderfully evoke a now long-gone world of civic balls, seaside excursions, newspaper boys and patent chocolate remedies. As everybody said after one of his most stylish coups, Denry 'was not simply a card; he was the card.'

In the work that has been judged the finest of his later novels, (printed here in Bennett's corrected version) Arnold Bennett gives us an unfogettable portrait of a miser and his wife. Henry Earlforward is a second-hand bookseller with a passion for money. He marries Violet Arb, a widow with a fortune of her own, yet he is eaten up by fear and greed. Set against the dark forces of avarice is the Earlford's maid, Elsie, whose love of life, generosity of spirit and warm humanity give Riceyman Steps a fine balance between hopelessness and optimism. 'I closed the book at seven in the morning after the shortest sleepless night of my experience ... there I had "e;Bennett triumphant"e; without any doubt whatsoever' - Joseph Conrad

First published in 1908, The Old Wives' Tale affirms the integrity of ordinary lives as it tells the story of the Baines sisters--shy, retiring Constance and defiant, romantic Sophia--over the course of nearly half a century. Bennett traces the sisters' lives from childhood in their father's drapery shop in provincial Bursley, England, during the mid-Victorian era, through their married lives, to the modern industrial age, when they are reunited as old women. The setting moves from the Five Towns of Staffordshire to exotic and cosmopolitan Paris, while the action moves from the subdued domestic routine of the Baines household to the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.

Word count 5,540

Arnold Bennett hyllades under sin livstid som en av den engelskspråkiga världens största men också mest varmhjärtade realister. Systrarna från 1908 kom att bli hans mästerverk och har filmatiserats flera gånger med stor framgång. Här får vi följa systrarna Sophia och Constances resa genom livet från barndom till ålderdom. Sophia väljer den stora världen i Paris och Constance stannar i provinsstaden men 1800-talets snabba förändringar drabbar dem båda. Boken ställer frågor om materiell och själslig lycka med stor humor och oöverträffad berättarglädje. Ett tidsporträtt som får tankarna att gå till Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë och Jane Austen.

Arnold Bennett hyllades under sin livstid som en av den engelskspråkiga världens största men också mest varmhjärtade realister. Systrarna från 1908 kom att bli hans mästerverk och har filmatiserats flera gånger med stor framgång. Här får vi följa systrarna Sophia och Constances resa genom livet från barndom till ålderdom. Sophia väljer den stora världen i Paris och Constance stannar i provinsstaden men 1800-talets snabba förändringar drabbar dem båda. Boken ställer frågor om materiell och själslig lycka med stor humor och oöverträffad berättarglädje. Ett tidsporträtt som får tankarna att gå till Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë och Jane Austen.

When American millionaire Theodore Racksole impulsively purchases the luxurious Grand Babylon Hotel in London, a string of strange things start occurring. Amidst the many disappearances and deaths, Racksole and his daughter Nella begin investigating, suspecting foul play. Soon the Racksoles are embroiled in a political and criminal conspiracy, leading them on a thrilling adventure across Europe. "The Grand Babylon Hotel" is a thrilling and charming adventure mystery from Arnold Bennett from the turn of the century.Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was a British novelist, playwright, critic, and essayist and a key literary figure of his time. His most famous works include "The Old Wives' Tale" (1908), "The Clayhanger Family" (1925), and "The Card" (1911). He also wrote a series of self-improvement books.

This is a selection of short stories recounting, with gentle satire and tolerant good humour, the small town provincial life at the end of the nineteenth century, based around the six towns in the county of Staffordshire, England, known as the Potteries. Arnold Bennett chose to fictionalize these towns by changing their names and omitting one (Fenton) as he apparently felt that "Five Towns" was more euphonious than "Six Towns". The real town names which are thinly disguised in the novel are: Hanley, Longton, Burslem and Tunstal, the fifth, Stoke became "Knype".