Showing results by author "Arnold Bennett" in All Categories

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.

When William Froyle, ostler at the Queen's Arms at Moorthorne, learns that his betrothed has betrayed him, he determines to hang himself in the inn's coach house. His first, unsuccessful attempt, is witnessed by Daft Jimmy, the village idiot. Daft Jimmy offers to help with the process of fixing the noose and takes a great deal of interest and delight in the proceedings. As events unfold, it becomes less clear who is the fool and who is the wise man.

Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was an English author, born in one of the "Five Towns" which form the background of so many of his witty stories. When Professor Malpetant pays an unannounced visit to his sister, Muriel, he finds nobody at home. Both Muriel and her maid, Annie, have gone out, though he finds the door unlocked, and takes the opportunity to take a look around the house.

Arnold Bennett was born in 1867 in Hanley, one of the six towns that formed the Potteries that later joined together to become Stoke-on-Trent - the area in which most of his works are located. In 1908 Bennett published The Old Wives' Tale, to great acclaim. With this, his reputation was set. Clayhanger and The Old Wives' Tale are perhaps his greatest and most lauded novels. But standing next to these are many fine short stories and it is to these that we turn our attention in this audiobook.

A collection of strange and often grisly tales by some of the world's greatest writers, ranging from mildly unsettling to hair-raising.

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.

A young wife in a quiet Midlands town, a new dress, a dance, an unimaginative husband. How could a mandarin's sudden death in far-away China have any connection with this homely situation?

When local musical prodigy, Gilbert Swann, is selected to play the violoncello with the visiting London orchestra during the musical festival in the five towns, his mother is convinced that he will be the cornerstone of the entire event. When local dignitary Mrs. Clayton-Vernon invites Gilbert to dinner before the concert with her cousin, the famous conductor from London, she sees this as recognition of his musical genius. A sudden cold snap on the day, however, makes Mrs. Swann fearful that Gilbert's hands will get cold on the journey from Mrs. Clayton-Vernon's house to the concert.

An unsettling anthology of short stories featuring crazed characters, from the mildly eccentric to the criminally insane. 1. "The Tell-tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe 2. "The Green Light" by Barry Pain 3. "A Madman’s Manuscript" by Charles Dickens 4. "His Brother’s Keeper" by W. W. Jacobs 5. "The Dream" by A. J. Alan 6. "Query" by Seamark 7. "Old Fags" by Stacy Aumonier 8. "The Mad Veteran of Fort Ratonneau" by Ludwig Achim von Arnhem 9. "The Mines of Falun" by E. T. A. Hoffmann

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.

Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was an English author, born in one of the "Five Towns" which form the background of so many of his witty stories. In The Burglary, Bennett tells the story of a highly respectable and distinguished citizen who hires a burglar to rob his house.

Arnold Bennett was an English writer who wrote both novels and practical self-help books. One of his most famous works is How to Live on 24 Hours a Day. This book contains nine practical and often humorous essays. The titles are "Mental Efficiency", "Expressing One's Individuality", "Breaking with the Past", "Settling Down in Life", "Marriage", "Books", "Success", "The Petty Artificialities", and "The Secret of Content".

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!

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, writer 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.

BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Arnold Bennett's tale of love, tyranny and rebellion. Brough 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 fortune and realises that she is loved by the charismatic Henry Mynors. But with the money comes responsibility, and Anna's growing concern for William, the son of one of her tenants, leads her to a defiant act that threatens everything....

Published in 1930, the year before Bennett's death, this novel follows the daily workings of a hotel modelled on the Savoy Hotel in London. The central character, Evelyn Orcham, is the director of the hotel. Also included is a recording of James Hilton talking about Arnold Bennett.

A delightful collection of humorous classic tales by some of the world's greatest racconteurs.

Murder mystery by Arnold Bennett, adapted in two parts by Chris Harrald. Episode 1. American tycoon Theodore Racksole buys Europe's most exclusive hotel on a whim, but is warned by the seller that he will live to regret it. Soon, a mysterious death occurs and Theodore and his daughter Nella find themselves in danger in their own hotel. Episode 2: Having bought Europe's most exclusive hotel, American tycoon Theodore Racksole is thrown in to a world of intrigue, espionage and murder. Starring John Sessions with full cast.

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.

A rich collection of diverse and fascinating stories by famous classic authors. 1.The Bus Conductor by E. F. Benson 2.The Murderer by Perceval Gibbon 3.The Death Mask by H. D. Everett 4.Caterpillars by E. F. Benson 5.His Brother’s Keeper by W. W. Jacobs 6.The Secret of the Black Bag by William Le Queux 7.A Joy Ride by A. J. Alan 8.The Perfect Murder by Stacy Aumonier 9.The Furnished Room by O. Henry 10.The Squaw by Bram Stoker 11.The Dust Cloud by E. F. Benson 12.The Idiot by Arnold Bennett