'An exquisitely-written, generous, funny, thoughtful book about the everyday joys of being alive. I love it.' Dolly Alderton '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 'My apology, my little bit of penitence, for having grumbled so much, for having darkened the breakfast table, almost ruined the lunch, nearly silence the dinner party, for all the fretting and chafing, grousing and croaking, for the old glum look and the thrust-out lower lip. So my long-suffering kinsfolk, my patient friends, may a glimmer of that delight which has so often possessed me, but perhaps too frequently in secret, now reach you from these pages.' There are times when there doesn't seem much to smile about. And for those times, there is this book. J. B Priestley's 1949 classic teaches us that joy may be found in even the simplest things, and that we all have the capacity to appreciate them. Delight...

Two little known Priestley plays, which, while they are quite different, have important features in common. The 31st of June is a comedy set partly in an advertising agency and partly in a medieval castle; Jenny Villiers is a serious play set backstage in an old provincial theatre. But both exploit elements of Time. In the 31st of June scenes switch between modern times and the middle ages, while characters move between both. There are kings, company bosses, princesses, fashion models, dwarves and two rival magicians. causing confusion and romance. Jenny Villiers examines life in the Theatre. The doubts of the present are confronted by players from the past, and a jaded playwright recovers his faith in the Theatre. Both plays were performed on the stage, but later rewritten and published as novels.

Sir Charles Ravenstreet, in his mid-fifties, is unmarried and childless and lives only for his work in the fast-paced world of business. When he is forced out of his job to make room for someone younger, Sir Charles finds himself at a loose end and facing the dismal prospect of an empty future. Believing he can make use of Sir Charles, the sinister Lord Mervil seeks to enlist his aid in a scheme to earn a fortune by manufacturing a new drug that relieves its users of all anxiety and will reduce the masses to a state of docility and mindless euphoria. But a plane crash and an encounter with three strange old men determined to thwart Lord Mervil's plans will lead Sir Charles to the exciting discovery that when he suspected his life might be over, it had really only just begun. One of the most enjoyable novels by the prolific J.B. Priestley (1894-1984), The Magicians (1954) is both a whimsical story of the strange and fantastic and a sharply satirical fable of modern...

An Inspector Calls, first produced in 1946 when society was undergoing sweeping transformations, has recently enjoyed an enormously successful revival. While holding its audience with the gripping tension of a detective thriller, it is also a philosophical play about social conscience and the crumbling of middle class values. Time and the Conways and I Have Been Here Before belong to Priestley's 'time'plays, in which he explores the idea of precognition and pits fate against free will. The Linden Tree also challenges preconceived ideas of history when Professor Linden comes into conflict with his family about how life should be lived after the war.

Dr Salt is leaving the dismal and depressing town of Birkden, and his departure can't come soon enough. Recently widowed and newly retired from the practice of medicine, Salt looks forward to starting a new life in a sunnier clime. But before he can go, he must solve the mystery of the disappearance of one of his patients, Noreen Wilks, a young woman in urgent need of a life-saving drug. Believing she's just a flighty girl who has run away, the police refuse to investigate, but Salt has reason to suspect foul play. Joining forces with Maggie Culworth, whose father has also inexplicably vanished, Salt must contend with powerful forces desperate to conceal the truth as he follows the clues towards a shocking and macabre conclusion. The only detective story by the prolific playwright and novelist J. B. Priestley (1894-1984), Salt is Leaving (1966) was originally written for the author's own amusement but has gone on to be recognized as a classic of the mystery genre....