Peter Trahier thought it was a small matter to walk out of his office
without permission in order to talk with a man who might be able to
further his political career... What possible harm could his action have
had? Phyllis Bentley, while painting a vivid picture of the industrial
West Riding of Yorkshire, gives us a chain of events that immediately
follows; a sequence of cause and effect ripples through the whole
community, its impetus continually increasing, till it surges with
tragic force against the young man's own doorstep. This is Phyllis
Bentley's finest piece of story-telling.
Phyllis Bentley (1894-1977) was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, where
she was educated until she attended Cheltenham Ladies College,
Gloucestershire. In 1932 her best-known work, Inheritance, was
published to widespread critical acclaim and commercial success. This
was in contrast to her previous efforts, a collection of short stories
entitled The World's Bane, and several poor-selling novels. The
success of Inheritance made her the most successful English regional
novelist since Thomas Hardy, and she produced two more novels to create
a trilogy; The Rise of Henry Morcar and A Man Of His Time. This
success made her a much demanded speaker and she became an expert on the
Bronte family. Over her career she garnered many awards; an honorary
DLitt from Leeds University (1949); a Fellow of the Royal Society of
Literature (1958); awarded an OBE (1970).
