Arnold Bennett

Arnold Bennett is a prolific and versatile author who was one of the most popular literary figures of his time. The man was born in 1867 and spent much of his childhood in the suburbs of Hanley, Staffordshire, which was a pottery town from the Midlands that would be the setting for some of his most popular novels. Second, he had the disingenuous, despicable, and invaluable journalistic faculty of knowing a lot more than most people and third, he had very good taste in literature.

The best place to start is the Five Towns series, the earliest of Arnold Bennett's multi-book series: it opens with A Man from the North (1898) and runs to 9 books across 1898–1913, ending with Married Life / The Regent (1913). Arnold Bennett's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Arnold Bennett has 197 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1667 and 2026. 111 of them belong to 4 named series — the largest being the Five Towns series with 9 books — and 86 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Arnold Bennett's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Five Towns (1898–1913, 9 books), Fantasias (1902–1927, 7 books) and Clayhanger Family (1910–1975, 4 books).

This guide splits Arnold Bennett's 197 books into 4 named series and 86 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Five Towns (9 books, 1898–1913); Fantasias (7 books, 1902–1927); Clayhanger Family (4 books, 1910–1975); Gothic Fantasy (91 books, 1667–2026).