J. B. Priestley

An inspector calls, the title play in this collection, was written inside a week in 1944. Inspector Goole, investigating a girl's death, calls on the Birlings, an outwardly virtuous household.

An Inspector Calls and Other Plays

The Good Companions (Penguin modern classics)

English Journey is an account by J. B. Priestley of his travels in England which was published in 1934.

Commissioned by publisher Victor Gollancz to write a study of contemporary England, Priestley recounts his travels around England in 1933. He shares his observations on the social problems he witnesses, and appeals for democratic socialist change. English Journey was an influential work, inspiring George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier, and "has even been credited with winning the 1945 election for the Labour Party".

In the work, Priestley also expresses a prejudice towards Irish immigrants in England: "A great many speeches have been made and books written on the subject of what England has done to Ireland... I should be interested to hear a speech and read a book or two on the subject of what Ireland has done to England... if we do have an Irish Republic as our neighbour, and it is found possible to return her exiled citizens, what a grand clearance there will be in all the western ports, from the Clyde to Cardiff, what a fine exit of ignorance and dirt and drunkenness and disease."

In a 1983 book of the same title, Beryl Bainbridge retraces Priestley's steps to capture the changes that half a century has brought to their shared native land.

English Journey

Angel Pavement

Orrin Grey

'Priestley is one of the finest and most popular storytellers of the last hundred years.' - Dame Margaret Drabble 'Abundant life flows through J.B. Priestley's books. He was the last of his kind.' - Stan Barstow '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.' - Dame Judi Dench Philip and Margaret Waverton and their friend Roger Penderel are driving through the mountains of Wales when a torrential downpour washes away the road and forces them to seek shelter for the night. They take refuge in an ancient, crumbling mansion inhabited by the strange and sinister Femm family and their brutish servant Morgan. Determined to make the best of the circumstances, the benighted travellers drink, talk, and play games 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 lies the mysterious, unseen Sir Roderick Femm, and behind the other lurks an unspeakable terror. Which is more deadly: the apocalyptic storm outside the house or the unknown horrors that await within? And will any of them survive the night? "Benighted" (1927), a classic 'old dark house' novel of psychological terror, was the second novel by J. B. Priestley (1894-1984), better known for his classics "The Good Companions" (1929), "Angel Pavement" (1930) and "Bright Day" (1946). The basis for James Whale's 1932 film "The Old Dark House," "Benighted" returns to print for the first time in fifty years. This edition includes the unabridged text of the first British edition, a new introduction by Orrin Grey, and a reproduction of the rare jacket art of the 1927 Heinemann edition.

Benighted

Arthurian characters from the medieval world and the personnel of a modern advertising agency switch back and forth in a burlesque involving magic mirrors and television.

The Thirty-First of June

Time and the Conways (Acting Edition )

Jason Cobley

The full story in quick modern English for a fast-paced read!

The Graphic Novel

An Inspector Calls

‘The finest book ever written about England and the English’ Stuart Maconie ‘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.’ Dame Judi Dench

La Visita del Inspector / An Inspector Calls (Aula de Literatura)

Grumbling at Large

The Linden Tree (Hereford Plays)

A Play in Three Acts

I Have Been Here Before

Once passionate about the theatre, playwright Martin Cheveril is now disillusioned and contemplating a change of career. His new play, a bitter and cynical piece, is about to premiere when something strange happens. After stumbling upon an old pamphlet about a talented young actress named Jenny Villiers who died in 1846, Cheveril dozes off and finds himself somehow transported back to the theatre of her day. By some mysterious means, he will find himself a spectator of the tragedy of Jenny's life and death-a tragedy whose effects will echo strangely into the present day. One of the prolific J. B. Priestley's favourites among his own books, the unusual ghost story Jenny Villiers (1947) returns to print at last in this new edition. Ten other classic titles by Priestley are also available from Valancourt. "J.B. Priestley is one of our literary icons of the 20th century. And it is time that we all became reacquainted with his genius." - Judi Dench "One of the finest and most popular storytellers of the last hundred years." - Margaret Drabble

Jenny Villiers

'We don't live alone ... We are responsible for each other' A policeman interrupts a rich family's dinner to question them about the suicide of a young working-class girl. As their guilty secrets are gradually revealed over the course of the evening, 'An Inspector Calls', J. B. Priestley's most famous play, shows us the terrible consequences of poverty and inequality. The other powerful plays in this collection - 'Time and the Conways', 'I Have Been Here Before' and 'The Linden Tree' - explore time, fate, free will and the effects of war. 'A vastly talented and exceptionally versatile and wise writer' Iris Murdoch 'Priestley was volcanic, fertile ... and never dull' Anthony Burgess If you enjoyed An Inspector Calls, you might like Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

Large Print Edition

Bright Day

Charles Beaumont

James Purdy

Since 2005, Valancourt Books has earned a reputation as one of the foremost publishers of lost and rediscovered classics, reissuing more than 400 unjustly neglected works from the past 250 years. In this third volume of horror stories, the editors of Valancourt Books have selected fifteen tales (and one macabre poem) - all by Valancourt authors - for this new collection featuring horror from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. This volume features a previously unpublished contributions by Steve Rasnic Tem, Eric C. Higgs, and Hugh Fleetwood, as well as thirteen other tales that have never or seldom been reprinted. In this volume, you will encounter tales of ghosts, haunted houses, black magic, monsters, demonic babies, and vengeful spirits. Stories of the strange and sinister, of a boy who unwisely disobeys his grandfather's warning never to go up the stairs, a man whose apparently irrational terror of fire proves all too justified, an unpopular man who discovers a shocking new way of making friends, an ancestor who exerts a chilling influence from beyond the grave. With stories ranging from frightening to horrific to weird to darkly humorous, by a lineup of authors that includes both well-known masters of horror fiction and acclaimed authors of literary fiction, this is a horror anthology like no other.

The Valancourt Book of Horror Stories, Volume Three

John Boynton Priestley

In the heart of Northern England, three respectable couples, married on the same day, at the same church, and by the same vicar, join to celebrate 25 years of blissful matrimony. Or so they think... The happy celebrations are brought to a sudden halt by a shocking revelation – these pillars of the community aren't quite as respectably married as they thought they were. As the home truths fly like confetti and conjugal rites turn to farcical fights, an evening of sparkling comic mayhem erupts. With a photographer from the local paper due to arrive any second, a missing housekeeper and a doorbell that wont stop ringing, can the three couples keep a lid on their embarrassing secret? Penned in 1938, this is a classic comedy that is a blessed union of laughs and surprises.

J. B. Priestley

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