THE CARD by Arnold Bennett (Penguin £8.99)

By 1928, Bennett was one of Britain’s most popular novelists. then he received a critical drubbing from sneery Virginia Woolf (‘dull to the point of comical’) and his success nose-dived.

His entertaining novels, set in the midlands Potteries, throng with rumbustious working-class characters, civic shenanigans, close-knit communities and toff worship.

the Card chronicles the spectacular rise of loveable rascal Denry, from washerwoman’s son to mayor via various mad- cap schemes. He meets his match in flinty- eyed, gold- digger ruth (‘plain but graceful on her feet’).

Hilarious, thumbing its nose at snobbery, pulsing with plot and affection for human foibles, Bennett’s satire makes Woolf’s own books seem terribly la-di-da.