Anna of the Five Towns cover art

Anna of the Five Towns

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Anna of the Five Towns

By: Arnold Bennett
Narrated by: Peter Joyce
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Set in stifled, industrial Staffordshire in the late 19th century, against a strong evangelical background, Anna of the Five Towns tells of the courting of hard businessman Ephraim Tellright's daughter by prosperous and accomplished Henry Mynors.

As her father's fortune grows, so does Anna understanding. She realises her legacy and responsibility for the possible ruination of her father's tenants, Titus Price and his son, Willie, who also loves her. Mynors is soon in partnership with Tellright. Will Anna defy the miserly Ephraim, offend Mynors, with their marriage imminent, and help the unfortunate Prices - or subdue her instincts and resign herself to the way of Business?

©2005 Arnold Bennett (P)2005 Assembled Stories Classics

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Riceyman Steps cover art
Helen with the High Hand cover art
The Old Wives Tale cover art
China Towns: Based on the Five Towns Novels cover art
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens & Peter and Wendy cover art
The Nebuly Coat cover art
English Journey cover art
The Plays of J. B. Priestley cover art
Man and Wife cover art
East Lynne cover art
Doctor Marigold cover art
The Vicar of Bullhampton cover art
Lark Rise cover art
The Nether World cover art
The Odd Women cover art
The Thomas Hardy BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art

Critic reviews

"Peter Joyce is the most remarkable one-man band in audiobook publishing. Joyce, an experienced actor, reads them all himself." ( The Independent)
About Assembled Stories: Over the years the national press have reviewed Assembled Stories titles as "excellent", "remarkable", "entrancing", "superb", "magic for sure", "masterly", "wonderful", "a class act" and "a splendid example of audio at its best".
All stars
Most relevant  
The characters are vividly portrayed both by the author and by the narrator. A real classic of 'The Five Towns'

Brilliantly read and totally absorbing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A good old fashioned story but I really wish the Stoke-on-Trent dialect was spoken. Apart from a few words you would not recognise the location. The pottery dialect is unique and deserves recognition.

Good but the Yorkshire accent spoiled it for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Read with great sympathy. I loved it all
I could picture the five towns in period

Arnold Bennett at its best

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A poignant story beautifully read by Peter Joyce. More audiobooks from Arnold Bennett's superb 'Five Towns' collection, please! The 'Clayhanger' trilogy would be wonderful.

A vivid protrayal of life in the Potteries towns at the end of the nineteenth century

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Read Anna of the five Towns many years ago, but enjoyed it even more with the excellent narrator.
Would highly recommend.

Beautifully written and read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A book, thankfully from a very different era from our own! The tyrannical father, the frugality & accepting narrowness of Anna' life & the little sister. The emotional blackmail imposed on Anna at the revivalist meeting, is so well drawn & counterbalanced by the genuine affection & goodheartedness of Mrs. Sutton.
Arnold Bennett came across as caring deeply for his characters, even the so unpleasant Ephraim Tellwright. And Bennett's description of the kitchen dresser... A very perceptive, gentle man

A tragedy cloaked in so much gentleness

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have decided to go through Arnold Bennetts novels on audio, having had most of these on audio more than a decade ago. I know that sometimes his writing is good and insightful and quite pleasant in the form of the saga. I think the plodding narration didn't help. But anyway, I'll go on with them.

Not Quite as Good as I Remembered it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.