Audiobook · read by volunteers
Price of Love
Arnold Bennett (1867–1931)
Read by Christine Blachford · 19 chapters · 9 h 12
About the book
Rachel Fleckring has barely settled in as companion to the elderly Mrs Maldon when she finds herself woven into the family’s life. She is clever, observant and quietly proud, and she soon discovers how much trouble can be hidden inside a respectable house: money that goes missing, a feast that brings tension to the surface, and a night that changes what everyone believes. When she falls in love with one of Mrs Maldon’s descendants, she must also face the possibility that he is not the perfectly honest man she imagined. Arnold Bennett writes with a patient eye for domestic detail and for the small decisions that shape a life. Nineteen chapters and more than nine hours, read by one volunteer, suit a reader who likes slow-burning drama in an English provincial setting. A thoughtful story about trust, love and the price of money. Take your time with it.
Introduction
Arnold Bennett, who lived from 1867 to 1931, was an English novelist, playwright and critic, born in the Potteries of Staffordshire, the region that provided the setting for many of his best-known books. He wrote with great productivity and became one of the most successful authors of his generation. Price of Love appeared in 1914, the year in which the First World War began, and it belongs to his mature period, when he was known for realistic, closely observed portraits of ordinary lives.
Bennett believed that fiction should pay attention to everyday existence, to houses, money, habits and small events, and he found a lot of drama in them. In this novel the central figure is a young woman who works as a companion for an older lady and is gradually drawn into the affairs of the family. The story follows her feelings and her dawning understanding of the people around her, with money as a constant undercurrent, as the title suggests.
The chapter titles, such as Money in the House, Louis’ Discovery, The Feast and In the Night, hint at the movement of the plot without giving anything away. The narrative advances at an even pace, and Bennett’s sharp eye for character repays attention.
This LibriVox edition has nineteen chapters and lasts about nine hours. It is read by one volunteer, Christine Blachford. It is a good choice for listeners who enjoy realistic fiction from the early twentieth century and who like to spend time with a character whose thoughts they can follow closely. It is the sort of novel that gains from slow listening, because Bennett lets small domestic moments accumulate until they matter a great deal.
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