Publisher's Synopsis
Anna of the Five Towns is a novel written by Arnold Bennett and first published in 1902. The story is set in the fictional town of Bursley, which is one of the five towns that make up the Staffordshire Potteries in England. The book follows the life of Anna Tellwright, a young woman who lives with her widowed father and two younger sisters. Anna is a dutiful daughter who is expected to take over her father's pottery business when he dies. She is engaged to a wealthy young man named Henry Mynors, but their relationship becomes strained when Anna discovers that Henry is not as kind and generous as she thought. As the story unfolds, Anna learns to navigate the social and economic pressures of her community while also grappling with her own desires and ambitions. She befriends a young artist named Willie Price, who encourages her to pursue her passion for music and helps her to see the world in a different way. Throughout the book, Bennett explores themes of class, gender, and the struggle for self-expression in a society that values conformity and tradition. Anna of the Five Towns is a timeless tale of a young woman's journey to find her own voice and forge her own path in life.1902. Anna of the Five Towns depicts the severe economic and moral pressures of life in the Staffordshire Potteries in the late nineteenth century. Against the vitality and harshness of the Five Towns, Bennett's narrative is a compelling delineation of his heroine's attempts to gain freedom and independence from her father and the repressive regime of Methodism. This is the first of Bennett's novels to mark out the province of the Five Towns where much of his later fiction is set. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
