Arnold Bennett

Anna of the Five Towns illustrated Arnold Bennett

Anna of the Five Towns is a novel by Arnold Bennett, first published in 1902 and one of his best-known works. Anna lives with her young step-sister Agnes and her twice-widowed father, Ephraim Tellwright, in Bursley. The latter, once an active preacher and teacher in the Methodist movement, has become a domestic tyrant and, because of his miserly attitude to money, a wealthy man. On her 21st birthday, Ephraim unceremoniously hands Anna her unexpected inheritance from her grandmother; several parcels of shares and rented residential and industrial property that he has carefully hoarded and re-invested over the years. On paper, Anna is now a rich woman, but she has no experience in business and financial dealings, save the spending of the household expenses her father reluctantly hands over every week. She visits the rundown 'banks' (earthenware manufactory) operated by Titus and Willie Price, which she now owns. The Prices' business is grossly in debt and they claim to be unable to pay the back rent, but manage to give Anna a few pounds. She is also invited to visit the up-to-date and prosperous works of Henry Mynors, and is advised by Ephraim to invest in them as a 'sleeping partner'. She is well aware that Mynors, who she knows through shared church activities, is in love with her, but is unsure of her own feelings.