Arnold Bennett 
Riceyman Steps 

Riceyman Steps is a novel by British novelist Arnold Bennett, first published in 1923 and winner of that year’s James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. It follows a year in the life of Henry Earlforward, a miserly second-hand bookshop owner in the Clerkenwell area of London. (from wikipedia.org)

About the author

Enoch Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was an English writer. He is best known as a novelist, but he also worked in other fields such as the theatre, journalism, propaganda and films. (from wikipedia.org)