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A review by beautyistruth
Anna of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett
4.0
What an austerely beautiful novel. It took me back to reading D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf as a teen (same era and same country). It moved me and made me cry and it horrified me emotionally a little. I wouldn't say it's a masterpiece by any means - it is ordinary - but, gentle and easy to read, it worked for me for obscure reasons. Probably because it is subtle, and real, and sad.
Set in a small town of the Staffordshire Potteries at the turn of the nineteenth century, Anna, the main character is the daughter of a rich miser. She keeps house for him along with her little sister Agnes and is courted by a popular local businessman, Mr Mynors. There is even a trip to the Isle of Man with the more socially sophisticated Suttons. This is the story of Anna's coming of age and finding her place in the world - from religious belief to the clothes she needs for society - or more gravely, to the money she inherits and of how her father's hard-headed business practices negatively affect a tenant businessman and his son, and of Anna's relations with them since it is actually her money that has been invested in them.
Set in a small town of the Staffordshire Potteries at the turn of the nineteenth century, Anna, the main character is the daughter of a rich miser. She keeps house for him along with her little sister Agnes and is courted by a popular local businessman, Mr Mynors. There is even a trip to the Isle of Man with the more socially sophisticated Suttons. This is the story of Anna's coming of age and finding her place in the world - from religious belief to the clothes she needs for society - or more gravely, to the money she inherits and of how her father's hard-headed business practices negatively affect a tenant businessman and his son, and of Anna's relations with them since it is actually her money that has been invested in them.