Anna of the Five Towns

Anna of the Five Towns is a novel written by Arnold Bennett, first published in 1902. The story is set in the fictional town of Bursley, which is based on the author's hometown of Stoke-on-Trent in the industrial heartland of England. The novel follows the life of Anna Tellwright, a young woman who inherits her father's pottery business upon his death. Anna is a dutiful daughter who has been raised in a strict Methodist household, and she struggles to balance her responsibilities to her family and her own desires for independence and love. Despite her father's wishes, Anna falls in love with a young man named Henry Mynors, who works for her father's rival in the pottery industry. As Anna navigates the challenges of running a business and pursuing her own happiness, she must also contend with the expectations and prejudices of her community. The novel explores themes of class, gender, and religion, and offers a vivid portrait of life in a small industrial town at the turn of the century. Overall, Anna of the Five Towns is a compelling and insightful novel that offers a nuanced portrayal of a complex and fascinating character. It is a classic of English literature that continues to resonate with readers today.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.