The Good Companions · Chapters

Chapters explained

Chapter companions for The Good Companions by J. B. Priestley.

Read with companions Book page

Each chapter has a companion in the reader — open a free preview to see notes beside the text.

Chapter 1
Dedication
The author dedicates the book to Hugh Walpole, celebrating a friendship that has endured and even thrived despite their collaboration.
Chapter 2
The Good Companions
The newly formed troupe, The Good Companions, prepares for their first performance. The chapter introduces the characters and their collective excitement and nervousness as they come together for the first time.
Chapter 3
Book I
The opening of the novel introduces the three main characters—Jess Oakroyd, Miss Elizabeth Trant, and Inigo Jollifant—each in their own separate, discontented circumstances. Jess Oakroyd, a Yorkshire working man, feels trapped by his nagging wife and mundane life. Miss Trant, a middle-aged spinster, receives news that her niece Dorothy is engaged, prompting her to reconsider her own future. Inigo Jollifant, a young schoolmaster, is dismissed from his post after a disagreement and sets off on a journey. The chapter establishes their individual desires for escape and change, setting the stage for their eventual convergence.
Chapter 4
Mr. Oakroyd Leaves Home
Jess Oakroyd, a joiner at Higden's mill in Bruddersford, is sacked from his job. After a tense confrontation with his wife, who insists on taking in a lodger named Albert Tuggridge, and feeling alienated from his son Leonard, Jess discovers a newspaper report about a street robbery. He had earlier found four five-pound notes, and the chapter ends with him deciding to leave home, setting off on a journey.
Chapter 5
I
Jess Oakroyd returns home to Bruddersford after his travels, only to discover his wife is gravely ill in the infirmary. He learns from his son Leonard and neighbor Mrs. Sugden that she has undergone an operation and is in a serious condition, having hidden her illness from him. The chapter explores Jess's anxiety, regret, and the strained family dynamics as he confronts the reality of his wife's suffering.

Free preview

93 more chapter companions sit beside the text in BetterReads — open a free preview to unlock the rest.

93 more companions → free preview

Dedication

The Good Companions

Book I

Mr. Oakroyd Leaves Home

I