32.00 USD
Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett
New York The Literary Guild
Published 1936
This wonderful classic book is in superb condition, considering its age. There is a gilded signature of the authors name on the red cloth hardcover. The spine is intricately as well. On the first cover page there is a sticker and a inscription from the previous owner and the last page of the book has a stamp from a bookstore. Please see photos for better representation of condition.
"This coming-of-age story set in the Midlands of Victorian England follows Edwin Clayhanger as he leaves school, takes over the family business and falls in love. Bennett wrote it in 1910 at the Royal Albion Hotel,Brighton, and in Lausanne.
Edwin Clayhanger's father, Darius, has risen from an extremely poor background, which Bennett repeatedly returns to, to become a prominent printer in Bursley. Edwin is not aware of his father's history and takes his family's affluence for granted. He allows his ambition to become an architect to be overruled by his father and instead becomes an office junior in his father's business. He sees through the many hypocrisies of Victorian England, but he does not confront them or become his own man until after his father's final illness and death. Then he reopens his relationship with the impoverished but exotic Hilda Lessways."