Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Grand Babylon Hotel / T. Racksole and Daughter | 1902 | Arnold Bennett | Buy |
| 2 | The Gates of Wrath | 1903 | Arnold Bennett | Buy |
| 3 | Teresa of Watling Street | 1904 | Arnold Bennett | Buy |
| 4 | Hugo | 1906 | Arnold Bennett | Buy |
| 5 | The Ghost | 1907 | Arnold Bennett | Buy |
| 6 | The City of Pleasure | 1907 | Arnold Bennett | Buy |
| 7 | The Vanguard / The Strange Vanguard | 1927 | Arnold Bennett | Buy |
Arnold Bennett called his lighter novels “fantasias” to distinguish them from the realistic Potteries fiction that made his reputation. The Grand Babylon Hotel (1902) is a comic thriller about an American millionaire who buys a London hotel on a whim. Buried Alive (1908) follows a famous painter who fakes his own death, and The Card (1911) traces the rise of a charming opportunist in the Five Towns.
The seven fantasias show a more playful side of Bennett. They are shorter and faster than the Clayhanger novels, with plots driven by coincidence and wit rather than the slow accumulation of domestic detail.