In the autumn of 1919 Henry Earlforward keeps a second-hand bookshop at the foot of Riceyman Steps in Clerkenwell. When he marries Violet Arb, a widow from the confectioner’s across the square, his love of money begins to take over both their lives, watched over by Elsie, their warm-hearted charwoman, who waits faithfully for her shell-shocked sweetheart Joe.
One of Bennett’s finest late novels, winner of the James Tait Black Prize, and a masterpiece of quiet London realism. Download the free EPUB.