Arnold Bennett Books In Order

Publication Order of Clayhanger Family Books

Publication Order of Fantasias Books

Publication Order of Five Towns Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Plays

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Arnold Bennett is a prolific and versatile author who was one of the most popular literary figures of his time.

The man was born in 1867 and spent much of his childhood in the suburbs of Hanley, Staffordshire, which was a pottery town from the Midlands that would be the setting for some of his most popular novels.

Arnold was born to a solicitor and went on to high school, only to drop out at sixteen to become a clerk in his father’s business. He would become the man who flopped twice on his legal examinations and then fled to London hoping to find work in law offices.
It was while he was in London that he realized he had all the attributes to make it as an author. He had a tenacious and omnivorous memory which made it possible for him to know how much the city spent in cab fares per day just as good as he could remember the order of stock anecdotes for Shelley and Byron or Shakespearean plays.

Second, he had the disingenuous, despicable, and invaluable journalistic faculty of knowing a lot more than most people and third, he had very good taste in literature.

Over time, Arnold Bennett was drawn into artistic and literary circles and he would then quit his pursuit of the law and get a job with “Woman,” the weekly magazine where he would become an editor.

The following year, “A Letter Home” his story was featured in “Yellow Book” then a very fashionable magazine. In 1898, Bennet published “A Man From the North,” an autobiographical novel that was then followed by his sensational fantasy work “The Grand Babylon Hotel.”
His reputation was a little tarnished in 1903 when he published a lighthearted memoir “The Truth About an Author.” Most people felt that he depicted himself as being an author solely in it for the commercial benefits.

He moved to Paris in 1903 where he lived for more than a decade publishing countless short stories that would be collected in three collections the best known of which was “Tales of the Five Towns.”

His most significant achievement was when he published “The Old Wives’ Tale” in 1908. The novel would become one of his most critically acclaimed novels that was compared to works of the best authors of the time such as Flaubert among other French realists.

Over the years, Arnold Bennett published more than seventy titles with “Riceyman Steps,” “The Old Wives’ Tale,” “Clayhanger,” and “The Card” his most popular.

In 1926, he became a contributor to the “London Evening Standard,” where he wrote “Books and Persons,” a weekly book review. In 1930 he published “Imperial Palace” his final novel.

He died in 1931 of typhoid fever while he was living in London. He was by then considered one of the best novelists of his time and H.L. Mencken placed him among the most important novelists of his time.
An intriguing account of the life and times of the author was published posthumously in 1932 and was sold in three volumes.

Arnold Bennett’s novel “A Man from the North” is a painfully relatable novel even though it came out in 1898. It is a work that makes you wonder why we have self-help books as we tend to make the same mistakes despite how many times we are warned about it.
The lead is a man newly arrived in London named Richard Larch who loves everything about the city. He is certain that he is destined to become an author, even if all he does now is work as a clerk in a law office.

However, there are many distractions in the city and he also desires the company of females. Richard believes that he is more special and cleverer than most people he knows but he just cannot focus on his writing to produce anything of note.
At some point, he sets a daily word count target and even rearranges his furniture but even New Year resolutions hardly seem to work. Waffling between surrendering to the suburban lifestyle or committing to becoming an author, he just cannot commit to one.
At the end of the novel, he is at the extreme end of one of his pendulum swings but he is not so sure that is what is his ultimate destiny.

“Anna of the Five Towns” by Arnold Bennett is one of the best novels he ever wrote. The novel and its themes remain relevant even though this was a work that was published at the dawn of the 20th century.

The lead in the novel is the daughter of Efraim Anna Tellwright. The man is an unscrupulous and enterprising businessman, widower, and severe parent who does not seem to have any feelings of love toward his school-age-going daughter Agnese or Anna her older sibling.
Anna who had lived in her father’s home for years enduring a life of lack and avarice on her father’s part suddenly receives some good news.

When she turns 21, her father reluctantly informs her that her mother had left her a small inheritance upon her death during childbirth and that he has over the years grown into something quite conspicuous.
Her inheritance opens doors for her into high society and she thinks that maybe her destiny is to become someone of note.

But will she be able to outrun the inevitable conflict between her generosity and goodness and the unappealable, intransigent avarice and wickedness of Efraim her father?

“Tales of Five Towns” is an excellent find and one of the best collections that Bennett ever put together. It is a gripping, poignant, humorous, and sometimes tragic work as each short story packs a punch that always hits differently.

Bennett writes with good humor and charm with some astute observations about human foibles and behavior. He casts an understanding and benevolent eye on all his characters even his villains are shown to be acting from misunderstanding, ignorance, or misguided motives.
Just as his characters are not all bad or all good, most of the storylines do not go where you would expect the conventional story to end. Instead, they ring true with a stamp of character and life that shows how masterful Bennett truly is.