Product Description
First published in 1929 in a time of deepening economic gloom and worldwide political unrest The Good Companions won The James Tate Black Memorial Prize for fiction, caught the public’s imagination and became a publishing phenomenon. Vigorous, optimistic and at times supremely comic it is also an exploration of English life, reaching deep into the decaying towns, dingy seaside lodging houses, market fairs and fading traditions of the 1920s. An England Priestley knew better than any other author of his day.
This special edition comes with forewords by Dame Judi Dench and Tom Priestley; first and last words by Barry Cryer and Alan Plater; an illustrated biographical background and an exploration of the book’s major screen and stage adaptations with contributions from Ronald Harwood, Sir André Previn, Jan Francis, Janette Scott, John Fraser, Jeremy Nicholas, Judy Cornwell and Simon Green. Edited by Lee Hanson.
Reviews
Peter Hitchens — Mail on Sunday, 2nd November 2012
“I would never have thought anyone could make me interested in an assorted troupe of entertainers struggling from theatre to theatre. But he does. I could see very quickly why the book had been such a large and enduring success.”
Melvyn Bragg, 12th December 2007
Priestley is a writer whom I admire. I remember reading The Good Companions in one fell juvenile swoop
Paul Johnson, The Spectator, 2nd December 2007
One of the great popular novels of the 20th Century
Dame Judi Dench, 16th November 2007
A wonderful story
The Yorkshire Post, 2nd November 2007
Great Northern Books of Ilkley is rescuing J B Priestley one book at a time. In 2006, it re-issued Bright Day. Last Autumn, a strikingly beautiful edition of The Good Companions arrived.
The Yorkshire Post, 25th October 2007
A strikingly beautiful edition