Arnold Bennett 
Riceyman Steps 
A Novel

‘Riceyman Steps’ is a novel by British novelist Arnold Bennett, which won James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in 1923. It follows a year in the life of Henry Earlforward, a miserly second-hand bookshop owner in the Clerkenwell area of London. The story takes place in 1919–1920, just after the First World War, and is divided into five parts. It deals with the final year in the life of its main character, Henry Earlforward, a miser with a slight limp, who keeps a second-hand bookshop in the Clerkenwell area of London, at Riceyman Steps. Henry harbors a secret passion for Violet Arb, a widow who inherits a neighboring confectionery shop. When Henry tries to woo Violet, the widow realizes that they share the same charwoman and maid servant in the simple, loyal Elsie Sprickett.