Good Companions

Special Edition with extra content.

Three unhappy characters, Jess Oakroyd, Miss Trant and Inigo Jollifant flee from their old lives to seek adventure on the open road. Fate brings them together and into the presence of a broken-down theatrical touring company. Throwing caution to the winds they save the group and set off on an unforgettable tour of the pavilions and provincial theatres of England.

First published in 1929 in a time of deepening economic gloom and worldwide political unrest The Good Companions won The James Tate Black Memorial Prize for fiction, caught the public’s imagination and became a publishing phenomenon. Vigorous, optimistic and at times supremely comic it is also an exploration of English life, reaching deep into the decaying towns, dingy seaside lodging houses, market fairs and fading traditions of the 1920s. An England Priestley knew better than any other author of his day.

This special edition comes with forewords by Dame Judi Dench and Tom Priestley; first and last words by Barry Cryer and Alan Plater; an illustrated biographical background; and an exploration of the book’s major screen and stage adaptations with contributions from Sir André Previn, Ronald Harwood, Jan Francis, Janette Scott, John Fraser, Jeremy Nicholas, Judy Cornwell and Simon Green.

‘One of the great popular novels of the 20th Century.’

Paul Johnson, The Spectator

‘Priestley is a writer whom I admire. I remember reading The Good Companions in one fell juvenile swoop.’

Melvyn Bragg

‘Picaresque, picturesque…

If you have not read it I envy you, it lies ahead…’

Barry Cryer