The Crowthers of Bankdam
$2.75
ByMACMILLAN
THE story of three generations of a family of mill owners in the West Riding of Yorkshire, between 1854 and 1921, told with Victorian fullness, leisureliness, and length. The Bankdam woolen mills grow from inconspicuous beginnings to become vast and powerful under the practical genius of Simeon, Joshua, and Simeon Crowther, who through three generations gradually wrest control from the elder Simeon’s brother Zebediah and his descendants. This struggle affords a contrast between capitalists who live for love of their business and those who care for their business only because it gives them a living. The narrative is full of knowledge, swims with characters, is inexhaustible in incident; sometimes humorous, often exciting, always interesting. A novel of industry told from the employers’ point of view and with sympathy is not common nowadays. This is a very good one. R. M. G.
R. M. G. ROBERT M. GAY