Has this novel been undervalued in the past? RC Sherriff’s name is more commonly linked to his 1928 play, Journey’s End, a WWI drama, or with some of the Hollywood film scripts he wrote.

He opens this novel on the day Mr Baldwin, a white-collar worker, retires from his job as Chief Cashier at an insurance company. We’ll think about the characters, their situations, our own ideas about late 1920s and early 1930s Britain, and ask questions about this story.

It was reprinted by Persephone Books in 2015 & 2017. In her preface, Juliet Gardiner calls it ‘timeless’. We’ll think about what that means.

Please read the whole novel prior to the session, as we will be thinking about the overall shape of the story as well as the style of narrative.