Through the error of destiny, Anna Tellwright has been born into the wrong environment. Until the age of twenty-one, she lives a restricted life with her miserly father. But on her birthday she learns that she is heiress to a large fortune. Henry Mynors, an energetic and charismatic young businessman, is in love with her, but Anna is drawn to the meek and vulnerable Willie Price. Confronted by the conflicting demands of love and duty, she struggles to free herself from her father's tyranny while holding on to her integrity and self-esteem.
'Anna of the Five Towns' established Bennett as the novelist of the 'Five Towns' - his own regional creation. Anna's story, told with powerful restraint and great affection, is set against the destructive yet grandiose landscape of the Staffordshire Potteries and the narrow community of Midlands Methodism.
The most comprehensive paperback edition available, with introduction, notes, selected criticism, text summary, appendices and chronologies of the novel's composition and Bennett's life and times.
