J.B. Priestley

"What do they call this street? Angel Pavement, isn't it? That's a dam' queer name for a street, though I've known queerer names in my time." (Golspie). Tucked away in the City of London, lies a dingy, almost forgotten side street known as Angel Pavement. Here can be found the headquarters of Twigg & Dersingham, suppliers of veneers and inlays to the furniture trade. Business is slow and the staff struggle against a tide of growing competition, rising prices and recession. Into their midst descends the mysterious and charming Mr Golspie and the promise of a brighter future. Be sure, life will never be the same again for all those concerned with the firm...the likes of Herbert Norman Smeeth, the cashier; Harold Turgis, the clerk; Lilian Matfield, the secretary-typist; and the boss, Howard Bromport Dersingham! Angel Pavement is one of the great London novels: a vivid evocation of the sprawling and crowded metropolis during the era of the painful Depression of the inter-war years. It is also a splendidly perceptive examination of what happens to a small group of office staff when the destructive force of a rapacious financial predator is unleashed among them. This is J.B. Priestley at his best...indeed most critics agree that Angel Pavement was his finest novel, with only Bright Day a near contender! It arrived just after the huge success of The Good Companions, and, though it is darker than the delightful earlier novel, it proved just as popular...and probably more significant. Great Northern Books of Ilkley have been bringing out new editions of a number of Priestley's works, and Angel Pavement was the choice in 2012.

The action of the play occurs in an English industrial city, where a young girl commits suicide and an eminently respectable British family is subject to a routine inquiry in connection with the death. An inspector calls to interrogate the family, and during the course of his questioning, all members of the group are implicated lightly or deeply in the girl's undoing. The family, closely knit and friendly at the beginning of the evening, is shown up as selfish, self-centered or cowardly, its good humor turning to acid, and good fellowship to dislike, before the evening is over. The surprising revelation, however, is in the inspector...

An Inspector Calls, first produced in 1946 when society was undergoing sweeping transformations, has recently enjoyed an enormously successful revival. While holding its audience with the gripping tension of a detective thriller, it is also a philosophical play about social conscience and the crumbling of middle class values. Time and the Conways and I Have Been Here Before belong to Priestley's 'time'plays, in which he explores the idea of precognition and pits fate against free will. The Linden Tree also challenges preconceived ideas of history when Professor Linden comes into conflict with his family about how life should be lived after the war.

Excellent Book

"So – for God's sake – don't say anything to the inspector."A respectable household is shocked when a strange police inspector visits them shortly after dinner... and proceeds to unravel their prejudices and lies. Through this almost surreal murder-mystery, Priestley interweaves social comment with a gripping story that twists and turns every few pages.True to the original vision of the author and featuring beautiful engaging artwork, the book features the entire play, unabridged (in the original British English), as well as an illustrated Character List (Dramatis Personae), 132 pages of story artwork, and fascinating support material that details the life and work of J.B. Priestley - all beautifully presented in color.An alternative text edition with simplified US dialogue is also available enabling differentiation in the classroom.

A torrential downpour forces Philip and Margaret Waverton and their friend Roger Penderel to seek shelter in an ancient, crumbling mansion inhabited by the strange and sinister Femm family. Determined to make the best of the circumstances, the benighted travellers drink and talk to pass the time while the storm rages outside. But as the night progresses and tensions rise, dangerous and unexpected secrets emerge. On the house’s top floor are two locked doors: behind one of them is the mysterious, unseen Sir Roderick Femm, while the other conceals something terrifying and deadly ... Benighted (1927), a classic ‘old dark house’ story of psychological terror, was the second novel by one of the most prolific and beloved British authors of the 20th century, J.B. Priestley (1894-1984). This edition includes an introduction by Orrin Grey, who discusses the connections between the novel and its film adaptation, James Whale’s The Old Dark House (1932).

Tim Bedford is an artist. He loves exotic places and captures their shades and essences in his art. When Bedford is despatched to Peru in search of Joe Farne, however, he finds himself cast as a private detective uncovering a lost friend, a beautiful woman's advances and a web of intrigue.

Described at the time of publication as "a thriller of the atomic age". Priestley was said to have written this novel at great speed, churning out 80,000 words in three weeks. On her biography of Priestley, Judith Cook writes:"The Doomsday Men does not pretend to any great depth or meaning: three men, a fanatic, a millionaire and a mad scientist, meet up in a fantasy castle in the middle of the Arizona desert to plot how best to blow up the world. It's a good romp, and it is surprising in view of the film options taken on other Priestley books, that it did not appeal to Hollywood." KF

J. B. Priestley (1894-1984) was a versatile and prolific novelist and playwright, but in The Other Place (1953) he shows an unexpected talent, proving himself a master of the weird tale. In “The Grey Ones,” a man visits a psychiatrist after he becomes convinced that a group of demons masquerading as people are plotting the overthrow of the human race . . . but what if he’s not insane? In “Guest of Honour,” a banquet speech becomes a horrifying affair when the keynote speaker realizes his audience is made up of monstrous and menacing creatures. “The Leadington Incident” recounts the disturbing experience of a Cabinet minister who suddenly perceives that though the people around him move and talk as though alive, they are all actually just animated corpses or sleepwalking zombies. The nine tales in this collection are strange, fantastic, and often unsettling, and they represent Priestley at his best. ‘Priestley is one of the finest and most popular storytellers of the last hundred years.’  – Margaret Drabble ‘J.B. Priestley is one of our literary icons of the 20th century. And it is time that we all became re-acquainted with his genius.’ – Judi Dench “[H]ighly readable and provocative.” –  Sunday Herald