Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett #1

Bennett had promised me in Anna of the Five Towns that if I read enough of his writing, he would describe something that would fascinate me. He kept his promise in Chapter 4 of Clayhanger when he told me that Edwin, a young man I thought ordinary, has a private desire to do something extraordinary. He is not yet sure what, particularly, he’ll do, but, to repeat what Bennett told me, he wants to do his best, to exhaust himself in doing his best, in pursuit of honest and terrific endeavor. This I wanted very much to watch.