The Grim Smile Of The Five Towns

Arnold Bennett (1867 - 1931)

The Grim Smile of the Five Towns (1907) is the second major collection of stories written by Arnold Bennett. (The first is Tales Of The Five Towns, 1905, available at Librivox.).The five towns of the title are the conurbation of Stoke-on-Trent in which much of the writer's best work is set. Later [than initial] critics have been kinder to the collection's key story, with Margaret Drabble calling "Simon Fuge"... one of the greatest short stories in the English language", and John Wain remarking that... "it says as much as a novel, it says easily as much as a novel of a hundred thousand words could say on this theme" and naming it... "the best thing that Arnold Bennett ever did." The stories exhibit Bennett's usual dry wit and belie the word "grim" in the title. - Summary by David Wales

Genre(s): Literary Fiction, Single Author Collections

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 The Lion's Share David Wales
00:32:00
Play 02 Baby's Bath David Wales
00:27:56
Play 03 The Silent Brothers David Wales
00:35:07
Play 04 The Nineteenth Hat David Wales
00:18:06
Play 05 Vera's First Christmas Adventure David Wales
00:26:45
Play 06 The Murder Of The Mandarin David Wales
00:27:58
Play 07 Vera's Second Christmas Adventure David Wales
00:27:36
Play 08 The Burglary David Wales
00:27:09
Play 09 News Of The Engagement David Wales
00:12:08
Play 10 Beginning The New Year David Wales
00:18:11
Play 11 From One Generation To Another David Wales
00:25:50
Play 12 The Death Of Simon Fuge, Part 1 David Wales
00:42:44
Play 13 The Death Of Simon Fuge, Part 2 David Wales
00:27:56
Play 14 The Death Of Simon Fuge, Part 3 David Wales
00:58:37
Play 15 In A New Bottle David Wales
00:11:27