It’s 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’. The marriage outwardly appears to be successful, although Henry has also inherited and is not an esteemed native of the district and Violet likewise - having been a nomadic traveller due to the demands of her late husbands employment, and her entrenched belief in class differences.

But Henry has a monstrous passion which transcends his love for Violet, his resolute determination for thrift. This flaw will ultimately destroy him and his wife and has resounding implications for those within his immediate circle. Elsie, also a widow, stolidly maintains her love for Joe, a mental casualty of the recent conflict, despite his inability to surmount his personal torment.

This novel established Bennett firmly on a pinnacle of literary achievement with a foothold in both the 19th and 20th centuries. It is a brilliant, clinical dissection of a troubled marriage, in troubled times and, at its centre, an irritating scratch that ‘will out’.

Collection	Narrator	Length
Windsor	Peter Joyce	12 hrs 30 mins

Media	Compact Disc
Media Qty	11
Audio Format	CD-DA
Book Code	WI-605CD
ISBN	978 1 86015 070 8
Price	£27.49

Enoch Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was a British novelist born in a modest house in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. At age 21 Arnold, who worked as a rent collector went to London as a solicitor's clerk. He won a literary competition in Tit Bits magazine in 1889 and was encouraged to take up journalism full time. In 1894 he became assistant editor of the periodical Woman. He noticed that the material offered by a syndicate to the magazine was not very good, so he wrote a serial which was bought for 75 pounds. Just over four years later his first novel was published to critical acclaim.

From 1900 he devoted himself full time to writing. He moved to Paris, and spent the next eight years writing novels and plays. In 1908 The Old Wives' Tale was published, and was an immediate success throughout the English-speaking world and hailed as a masterpiece.

During the First World War, he became Director of Propaganda at the War Ministry. He refused a knighthood in 1918.

Click here to find out more about Arnold Bennett.

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