Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clayhanger | 1910 | Arnold Bennett | Buy |
| 2 | Hilda Lessways | 1911 | Arnold Bennett | Buy |
| 3 | These Twain | 1915 | Arnold Bennett | Buy |
| 4 | The Roll-Call | 1975 | Arnold Bennett | Buy |
The Clayhanger Family series is Arnold Bennett’s most sustained piece of fiction. Clayhanger (1910) follows Edwin Clayhanger as he grows up in his father’s printing business in the Potteries town of Bursley, struggling to find his own path under a domineering parent.
The subsequent novels continue the family story through Edwin’s marriage and the next generation. Bennett writes with painstaking attention to the details of provincial business life, domestic routine, and the slow changes that reshape a family over decades. The series is a major work of English realist fiction.