Bealby

What It's About

Bealby is a thirteen-year-old boy who, against his own strong wishes, is sent to work as a steward's-room boy at Shonts, a grand country house where his stepfather is employed as gardener. Determined not to accept a life in service, he causes chaos at a weekend party being held for the Lord Chancellor before fleeing into the countryside. What follows is a week-long "holiday" in which Bealby falls in with a series of colourful characters, including a caravan of travelling women, and stumbles from one scrape to the next.

Key Concepts

Beneath its comic surface, the novel gently satirises English life on the eve of the First World War: the fashion for country-house weekend parties, the courting of wealthy patrons by political parties, the amateur philosophising of the upper classes (the Lord Chancellor is an enthusiast for Hegelian idealism), and the unpreparedness of the British military. It also draws on Wells's own early rebellion against a life mapped out for him in domestic service.

About the Author

H. G. Wells (1866–1946) was an English writer, born the son of a professional cricketer and a lady's maid. Before establishing himself as a writer, he served apprenticeships as a draper and a chemist's assistant, eventually winning a scholarship to study science in London. He went on to become one of the most prominent public intellectuals of his era, writing widely across fiction and social and political commentary.