Big Read: Anna of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett

Set in the Potteries against a background of dour Wesleyan Methodism, Anna of the Five Towns is a brilliantly perceptive novel of provincial life in Victorian England. It is also one of the great studies of parental tyranny, stifled emotion and wasted life. A wonderful route into the work of this rather neglected but still fascinating and very approachable English novelist.

Sue Boyle will lead this informal discussion – here’s a few things to think about:

1. What is the importance of Methodism in the book?

2. What role does the idea of duty play in the novel?

3. What is the social importance of wealth and debt in the novel?

4. Was Arnold Bennett a feminist?

5. Did Arnold Bennett give his novel a satisfactory ending?

Big Read is FREE to BRLSI members and guests are very welcome. You can register by clicking on Book Tickets or turn up on the day at 16 Queen Square.

Sue Boyle’s poetry publications include Too Late for the Love Hotel, Report from the Judenplatz, Safe Passage and an epistolary novel in sonnets, The Letters from Mexico. She is currently working on a book about Victorian Staffordshire mantelpiece pottery.