Audiobook · read by volunteers
Card
Arnold Bennett (1867–1931)
Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017) · 12 chapters · 7 h 58
About the book
Denry Machin begins life as the son of a washerwoman and a seamstress in the pottery towns of the English Midlands, and he is determined not to stay there. Quick-witted, cheeky and full of nerve, he turns a forged invitation to a grand dance into the first step of a remarkable climb. A clever scheme here, a lucky opportunity there, and Denry rises from clerk to property owner, businessman and civic figure, always with a sparkle in his eye. He is the Card of the title, a local word for an amusing, audacious character. Arnold Bennett tells his story with sly affection, mixing comedy with an exact feeling for place and class. The twelve long chapters, read by Andy Minter in around eight hours, offer a cheerful, fast-moving picture of provincial England, perfect for anyone who likes a hero who succeeds by charm and cunning.
Introduction
Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was an English novelist from the Potteries of Staffordshire, the district he called the Five Towns. He wrote serious novels, such as The Old Wives' Tale, and lighter comic ones, and The Card, which appeared at the beginning of the 1910s, is the most famous of the second kind. It was a popular success in its time and has been adapted for stage and screen.
The novel follows Edward Henry Machin, known as Denry, from boyhood in the last quarter of the nineteenth century to public recognition as the youngest mayor his town has ever had. Bennett's characteristic strengths are all here: a precise sense of the streets, shops and social ranks of provincial England, a love of practical detail, and an ironic tolerance for human ambition. Early chapters such as The Dance and The Widow Hullin's House show how much is made of small episodes.
The audio edition has 12 chapters and lasts about eight hours. The reader is Andy Minter, a LibriVox volunteer. A short line in the story asks what the hero has done for the town, and the answer is that he has cheered everyone up, which sums up the book's spirit.
Today the novel is a good-humoured reminder that comedy can also be social history. It is easy to follow and easy to enjoy. The novel also works as a social snapshot. Its portrait of ambition in the industrial Midlands, of small-town rivalries and of the new commercial opportunities of the period, is lightly drawn but accurate in feeling, and it comes across clearly when the book is read aloud at a leisurely pace.
Public domain
Arnold Bennett died in 1931: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text