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J.B. Priestley / John Boynton Preistley Books In Order

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Publication Order of The Image Men Books

Out of Town (1968)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
London End (1969)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Adam In Moonshine (1927)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Benighted (1927)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Good Companions (1929)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Farthing Hall (1929)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Angel Pavement (1930)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Faraway (1932)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
I'll tell you everything (1933)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Wonder Hero (1933)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
They walk in the city (1936)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Doomsday Men (1937)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
When We Are Married (1938)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Let the People Sing (1940)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Black Out In Gretley (1942)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Daylight on Saturday (1944)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Three Men in New Suits (1945)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Bright Day (With: Melvyn Bragg) (1946)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Jenny Villiers (1947)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Festival at Farbridge (1951)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Magicians (1954)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Saturn Over the Water (1961)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Shapes of Sleep (1962)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Lost Empires (1965)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Sir Michael and Sir George (1966)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Salt Is Leaving (1966)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
It's an Old Country (1967)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Snoggle (1971)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Happy Dream (1976)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Found, Lost, Found (1976)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Collections

The Plays of JB Priestley Vol. 1 (1949)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Plays of J.B. Priestley, Vol. 2 (1949)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Plays of J. B. Priestley Vol. 3 (1950)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Other Place and Other Stories (1953)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Carfitt Crisis and Two Other Stories (1978)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Plays

Time And The Conways (1937)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
I Have Been Here Before (1938)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Johnson over Jordan (1939)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The High Toby (1948)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
An Inspector Calls (1948)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Dragon's Mouth (1952)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The 31st of June (1961)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Papers from Lilliput (1922)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
I for One (1923)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Figures In Modern Literature (1924)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The English Comic Characters (1925)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
George Meredith (1926)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Talking (1926)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Open House (1927)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
English Humour (1929)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Balconinny (1930)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
English Journey (1934)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Essays of To-Day and Yesterday (1935)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Midnight On The Desert (1937)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Self Selected Essays (1937)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Rain Upon Godshill (1939)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Out of the people (1940)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Britain Under Fire (1942)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Letter to a returning serviceman (1945)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Theatre Outlook (1947)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Delight (1949)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Low Notes on a High Level (1954)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Journey Down A Rainbow (1955)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Thoughts in the Wilderness (1957)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Art of the Dramatist (1957)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The wonderful world of the theatre (1959)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Literature And Western Man (1960)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Charles Dickens and His World (1961)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Margin Released (1962)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Man and Time (1964)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Thomas Love Peacock (1966)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Trumpets Over the Sea (1968)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Prince of Pleasure (1969)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Edwardians (1970)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The English (1971)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Victoria's Heyday (1972)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Over the Long High Wall (1972)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
A Visit To New Zealand (1974)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Outcries And Asides (1974)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Particular Pleasures (1975)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Instead of the Trees (1977)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

Publication Order of Anthologies

What's Wrong with Britain?(1978)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
The Joy of Football(1986)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
London Stories(2013)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle
Spirits of the Season: Christmas Hauntings(2019)Hardcover  Paperback  Kindle

J.B Priestley is the pen name by John Boynton Priestley an English mystery author. He was a novelist, scriptwriter, playwright a broadcaster and a social commentator. His father was a headmaster, and his mother passed on when he was two years, and his father remarried after four years. Priestley schooled at Belle Vue Grammar school and left at the age of sixteen to be a junior clerk at a wool firm named Helm and company in Swan Arcade. While he was working there, he began writing at night and published his articles in London and local newspapers.

After serving in the military, Priestley joined Trinity Hall University in Cambridge. The author’s novel, Benighted of 1927 was adapted into James Whale film. Priestley’s book, The Good Companions, made him a public figure and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction; he is also best known for his 1945 play An ‘Inspector Calls. In 1960, the author published a survey of western literature covering all the genres called Literature and western man. In 1970, the author was awarded a title of honorary Doctor of letters by the University of Bradford and in 1973 awarded the Freedom of the City of Bradford. The university named their library after him in his honor which he opened it officially in 1975

The Good Companions

The story is about three people who are at their turning point in life and parting ways and how they perform a troupe where they encounter ups and downs in the performing life. The three are Jessiah Oarkroyd who does jobs like carpentry and other odd jobs, he is tired of his nagging wife and a child, and he decides to pack his clothes and leave home to go to England. His adventures start when he rides in a big van carrying stolen goods. The driver and his helper leave him at an inn after stealing from him when he falls asleep. The innkeeper awakens him, and he realizes that he has no money to buy breakfast. He Walks out of the inn and starts footing, and he comes across another van with a man trying to repair a peddler’s stall. He assists him, and he is given breakfast and a ride in return for his help.

Jessiah stays with the man for three days after which he starts walking again where he comes upon a car and helps the driver, Elizabeth Trant, to start the motor. Trant has been taking care of her ill father before his death and has inherited hundreds of pounds from him. She is planning to travel to England after the misfortune and is ready to fulfill her dream and support the stuck troupe. While Jessiah is repairing the motor, they meet Inigo Jolliphant a teacher of literature and history at a private boarding school and just like Jessiah and Miss Trant; he had started his adventures a few days ago. He had been fired after he became too drunk while in work and began playing piano during his birthday

The misfortunes they face are the beginning of their new life which brings them together from a different background, and they work together having some adventures and succeeding in some of their endeavors.

The three meet up by chance and Elizabeth offers to manage, and Payout for a concert called Dinky Doo which she later changes the name to The Good Companions. Inigo becomes their new piano player, and Oarkroyd builds scenes by doing his odd jobs in the theater. They meet great characters on their journey to Rawnsley and also in their concert troupe. The troupes’ first appearance is in a small town, and the show was not successful but the second one favored them.
The novel is delightful with lots of humor and quirky cast with memorable and loveable characters. The author portrays each character and knits them together into a whole.

An Inspector Call

The novel begins when Arthur Birling, a rich British factory owner, is in the middle of celebrating Gerald’s engagement to Sheila, his daughter. The celebration is interrupted by Inspector Goole who is doing an investigation on the suicide committed by a young working-class lady, Eva Smith because he doubts that some of the family members might be aware of the reason behind the suicide. When the inspector starts interrogating the members of Birling family, it comes to light that each one of them is connected to Eva and had exploited, ruined and abandoned her leading to distress

Birling matches his daughter to Gerald because he is from an aristocracy family to utilize her for his profits. The two try getting married, but Sheila is not in love with Gerald because he deceives her, but she seems not to care since her aim matches that of her father of material gain and power. Although Gerald loves Sheila, he does not respect her and their relationship.

Eva was vulnerable and needed help from Gerald when they met since he is in a position to help her as a friend, but he utilizes her by making her his mistress after which he leaves her. Sheila on learning about it, she becomes jealous and plots on how she can kill Eva. Eric, Birling’s son, has a relationship with Eva but his mother does not like it since she is from a low-income family and talks to her about it.

Every member is confronted brutally for their bad involvement in the young lady’s suicide. The family at first seems friendly and tightly knit but ends up being self-centered, coward, and selfish due to their evil deeds towards the young lady.

The story is provoking with exciting characters and a moral message which is captivating and holds your attention till the end. The author achieves this by use of climaxes and unfolding the plot slowly. The book intends to show the inequality between different social classes and how dangerous this difference is and some of the themes referenced in An Inspector Call range from issues of class structure, social duty, and responsibility. J.B Priestley views society with more communal but not individual responsibilities. The Birling family members are more concerned with personal gain while exploiting other people.

Book Series In Order » Authors » J.B. Priestley / John Boynton Preistley

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