Most Popular Books by A. J. Cronin

A groundbreaking novel of its time and a National Book Award winner: “[A] fine, honest, and moving a study of a young doctor” (The Atlantic Monthly). The Citadel follows the life of Andrew Manson, a young and idealistic Scottish doctor, as he navigates the challenges of practicing medicine across interwar Wales and England. Based on A.J. Cronin’s own experiences as a physician, this book boldly confronts traditional medical ethics, and has been noted as one of the inspirations for the formation of the National Health Service. This story has been adapted into several successful film, radio, and television productions around the world, including the Oscar-nominated 1938 film starring Robert Donat, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Richardson, and Rex Harrison. “One of the most popular authors in the English-speaking world.” —The New York Times

Lady with Carnations is not only the traditional name of a famous Holbein miniature which unexpectedly comes into a London salesroom in the mid-thirties: it is also the soubriquet by which some of her close friends think of the antique-dealer who buys it. Katharine Lorimer, by hard work, flair and courage, has worked her way to the top of a trade that traditionally belongs to men. Yet, having acquired the Holbein despite fierce competition, she feels not triumph but a terrible anxiety and desolation. The antique business is going through the doldrums, and she herself is reaching the limit of her resources. Worse still, she feels appallingly alone in the world. Reserved and fastidious, she keeps a certain distance from even her dearest friends, and the person she loves most, her niece Nancy, is bound up in her own ambitions to become a famous actress. Katharine has bought the miniature as a gigantic gamble, hoping to sell it to a wealthy American collector, and she sets off for New York with Nancy and her niece’s fiancé. What happens to them all there, and how their lives are altered, makes an engrossing tale, a delightful love story, showing at its best Dr Cronin’s gifts as a novelist. Every Cronin ‘fan’, every reader who enjoys a novel with the old-fashioned virtues of a well-worked-out plot, sympathetic characters, and humanity, will find it absorbing. In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, The Stars Look Down and Cronin’s other classic novels, Lady With Carnations is a great book by a much-loved author.

Originally published in Hearst''s International-Cosmopolitan magazine (May 1935), COUNTRY DOCTOR is A. J. Cronin''s affectionate look at young Finlay Hyslop, a newly qualified Scottish doctor who assists a seasoned country GP in managing a variety of medical crises.

This is a new release of the original 1952 edition.

Scottish novelist and physician A. J. Cronin (1896-1981), author of "The Citadel," was one of the most popular writers of the twentieth century. With his keen understanding of the human condition, his deep moral conscience and his extraordinary narrative skill, he imbues his novelettes and short stories with all the qualities that have made his many novels worldwide bestsellers. Includes the novelettes "Child of Compassion," "The Man Who Couldn''t Spend Money" and "The Innkeeper''s Wife," and the short stories "Lily of the Valley," "Mascot for Uncle," "The Portrait" and "The One Chance."

In a story of wide and fascinating detail A. J. Cronin tells of Dr. David Morey who tries to atone for his desertion of the woman he loved. Beguiled by the prospect of riches he goes on to marry Dottie, a spoiled but beautiful neurotic who brings him almost constant misery, until a chance remark makes him seek retribution in memories of the past and a return to his native Scotland. In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, The Stars Look Down and Cronin’s other classic novels, The Judas Tree is a great book by a much-loved author.

"They stood staring at Susan''s face in shocked bewilderment and horror. They hadn''t expected this-oh, not this!" Originally published in Redbook magazine (June 1940), CHILD OF COMPASSION is A. J. Cronin''s poignant and moving story of a compassionate young doctor who struggles to find fulfillment after a freak accident horribly disfigures her lovely face.

Originally published in 1945, The Green Years is one of A J Cronin’s best-loved novels. It tells the story of Robert Shannon, a young Irish Catholic boy, who, orphaned at the age of seven, is brought to live with his mother’s estranged family in Scotland. As he grows up in a dour Presbyterian town, only his great-grandfather, an incorrigible, swaggering, charming, larger-than-life character, seems able to rescue him from the narrow interests of the people who try to shape his life in their own image. Disappointed in love and in his burning ambition to study medicine, the eighteen-year-old Robert sees his future as a blank wall. But, once again, he is saved from despair by his fiery relative, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family. This compassionate story of a boy’s growth to manhood, set against the harsh reality of life at the turn of the century, shows A J Cronin at his masterly best, creating a vivid gallery of characters with his customary blend of imagination, insight and tenderness. In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, The Stars Look Down and Cronin’s other classic novels, The Green Years is a great book by a much-loved author

Paul Mathry, a student about to graduate and embark upon a teaching career, finds out that his father was convicted for murder, a secret that his mother had hidden from him since his childhood. Driven by an intense desire to see his father, Paul sets out to visit him in prison, only to find out that visitors are never allowed there. From there, he meets the primary witnesses in the case that convicted his father, not all of whom are supportive to Paul''s cause. He encounters several dead ends but he persists, with the help of a store girl named Lena and a news reporter. His persistent campaign finally bears fruit. Rees Mathry, Paul''s father, goes on appeal and is vindicated. The novel ends with Paul''s father, a hardened, cynical man, seeing a fleeting hope for self-renewal and a purposeful life. In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, The Stars Look Down and Cronin’s other classic novels, Beyond This Place is a great book by a much-loved author.

Originally published in Ladies'' Home Journal magazine (January 1960), THE NATIVE DOCTOR is A. J. Cronin''s romantic and thrilling tale of Dr. Robert Murray and Nurse Mary Benchley, who travel to a remote Caribbean island to care for a rich sugar planter while he recovers from a serious operation. But Murray and Benchley discover that a wicked conspiracy is brewing against the planter and that an imminent political coup is about to throw the island into turmoil. As they try to escape with their lives, the attraction that blossoms between them gradually intensifies to a "violent sensation of delight."

Vigil in the Night represents something of an event for fans of A. J. Cronin. Here, published for the first time in book form, is his poignant and moving tale of two nurses"of Anne, who devoted herself to serving others, and of her younger sister, Lucy, who meant to get everything in life for herself. When Lucy''s negligence causes the tragic death of a young patient, Anne takes the blame to protect her young sister"an act that threatens to destroy the brilliant nursing career that lies before her. But then Anne meets an idealistic young surgeon who takes an interest in her, and although one of the oldest and most honored traditions of the medical profession is that the relationship between doctors and nurses remain strictly impersonal, doctors and nurses are, after all, human beings"and sometimes that tradition breaks down.

Robert Shannon was a devoted scientist on the brink of a medical discovery of great importance. He had no time or inclination for women . . . or for any of the world outside his laboratory. But Jean Law had other plans for him. Strictly brought up by narrow-minded parents, confined by her hospital lectures and her dingy boarding-house, she hardly knew the fires that burned beneath her calm exterior . . . except that they burned for Robert Shannon. She knew she had to have him for herself, and, despite her family’s religious beliefs , their shocked disapproval, and all she had been taught was her destiny, she was determined to fight for him. In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, The Stars Look Down and Cronin’s other classic novels, Shannon’s Way is a great book by a much-loved author.

Henry Page, owner of The Northern Light, the oldest and most respected newspaper in Tynecastle, is offered a vast sum to turn over control to a mass-circulation group based in London. He refuses – despite entreaties by his wife to accept – and so begins his fight with the Chronicle, an almost defunct newspaper in the same area which is given new life by London-thinking and London men. Against Henry Page, a journalist who believes in honest presentation of news without bringing in sensationalism, the Chronicle pulls every dirty trick in the trade. And Henry, brought eventually almost to his knees, stoically holds on to his principles and The Northern Light. It is only when he has won the battle that tragedy robs him of the most important thing in his life. In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, The Stars Look Down and Cronin’s other classic novels, The Northern Light is a great book by a much-loved author.

No wonder the Scotch countryside was interested in the schoolmaster''s pretty, new assistant. Twenty years before, her mother had left the place under a cloud. Is it true, the old saying, "Like father, like son"? Then must it also be true, they asked, Like mother, like daughter? Originally published as a complete novella in Cosmopolitan magazine (November 1933), WOMAN OF THE EARTH is A. J. Cronin''s poignant story of Davie, a lame-footed schoolmaster; Jess, his vibrant young assistant, whose unwed mother fled in disgrace from their very town a generation earlier; farmer Rob, his hale and hearty brother; and Ailie, Rob''s wife and a "woman of the earth."

Knowing his father’s profoundest wish, that his son should succeed him as Rector of Stillwater, Stephen Desmonde tried to be worthy. But the siren call of art was too overwhelming; he felt driven as though by demons to pursue his vision of the world’s beauty. He must put on canvas the truth as he saw it, whatever the cost might be, whether it was the blank misunderstanding of his family or the ridicule of the public. Few artists could have survived the scandal and mockery he had to endure in the sensational trial that stirred all England. Indeed, Stephen Desmonde himself could not have survived without the tender and understanding love of the unforgettable Jenny Dill, the uneducated but strangely wise little Cockney girl whose devotion kept him going when all else failed. It was Jenny who restored his confidence in himself and his vision, and in her love he found the serenity and peace that marked his greatest creations. Crusader’s Tomb, also published as A Thing of Beauty, is altogether a memorable novel, whose many characters and diverse moods are woven together with a skill and an appeal mastered by only the greatest storytellers of any age.

In the heat of late afternoon, a young boy waits at the station for his father. A plume of steam, white against the purple-heathered hills, marks the train. Beyond, blooming along the shoreline, the flowers of high summer, as a tall-funnelled paddle steamer beats and froths down the wide Clyde estuary . . . A narrative in the great Cronin tradition, this is the stirring chronicle of Laurence Carroll as he grows from childhood to adult years in Scotland. The tale of his struggles – early illness, a widowed mother, poverty, the uncles who try to help him, and the women who have such an unhappy effect upon him, is told with warm humour and with that intense and sympathetic realism for which A J Cronin is known. In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, The Stars Look Down and Cronin’s other classic novels, A Song of Sixpence is a great book by a much-loved author.

The famous Dr Finlay stories Adventures of a Black Bag represents a selection of A J Cronin’s best stories – stories which are tragic, funny and wry, each revolving around two doctors whose tremendously popular TV and radio series have made them household names: Dr Cameron and Dr Finlay. These stories have that universal appeal which has become A J Cronin’s trademark, established by bestsellers such as Hatter’s Castle, The Stars Look Down and The Citadel.

Destiny brings two lonely people together in this moving love story by A J Cronin, one of the master story-tellers of our time. Dr Harvey Leith, brilliant research scientist, awakes from a drunken stupor to find himself aboard a liner bound for the romantic Canary Islands. His past life is in ruins, and his hopes for the future are shattered. But he meets the lovely Mary Fielding on the ship, also looking for a new purpose in her life. It seems to her that they have met somewhere before, in some other place, and that they are meant for each other. There is only one problem – she is already married. Dr Leith’s life becomes inextricably involved with those of the other passengers and he gradually begins to forget the bitterness of the past. In the sultry atmosphere of Grand Canary he finds he has to conquer himself to achieve happiness.

Contemporary / British English When Andrew Manson starts work as a doctor he discovers some unpleasant facts about the medical profession. He struggles against a system that seems to value money more than curing illness. But the system is extremely powerful. Will he win his battle?

Desmonde Fitzgerald is handsome, charming and blessed with a marvellous singing voice - he is the Minstrel Boy. He becomes a priest, winning the coveted Golden Chalice for his singing when in seminary school abroad. But the duality of nature threatens to destroy the brilliant future that lies before him. Beloved of his parishioners and canon, he is devastatingly attractive to women, in particular the wealthy patron of his church at Kilbarrack, Ireland. But it is not until her wayward and sensual niece, Claire, arrives that disaster strikes . . . In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, The Stars Look Down and Cronin''s other classic novels, The Minstrel Boy is a great book by a much-loved author

A. J. Cronin’s famous story is a soul-stirring novel of pride and greed, and its terrible retribution. When her father forced her to leave school, and cut off all her contact with the past and future, Mary Brodie’s whole life became the narrow compass of her family’s cold, comfortless house in a small Scottish town. Her mean and ambitious father tyrannised over his timid, obliging wife, his cowed, overworked younger daughter and his spineless son. Four people were held in Brodie’s merciless grip until, like a breath of the outside world Brodie so much despised, came the young Irishman in whom Mary found a forbidden freedom, and who brought to her mother and sister much needed release... In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, The Stars Look Down and Cronin’s other classic novels, Hatter’s Castle is a great book by a much-loved author.

A J Cronin was commissioned by The American Weekly to write a Christmas story for the December 21st issue in 1958. His vision for the story is described in his letter of acceptance: “It came to me very strongly that to achieve the highest and most profoundly touching results I should go back to the first Christmas of all and create a vivid reconstruction of the effects of the birth of the Child upon certain characters, notably the wife of the innkeeper where no room was found for Mary and Joseph. The title of the story would be The Innkeper’s Wife, for she, as I imagine her, is the central human character—a good and tender-hearted woman, childless herself, and bullied by an assertive and miserly husband.” Here now is the alternative story of Christmas, narrated with great skill, by the author of The Citadel, Hatter’s Castle and The Stars Look Down

When Mr Harrington Brande moves himself and his precious young son Nicholas to a grand house in the deserted Spanish town of San Jorge he is planning on a fresh start for the two of them. And only the two of them. For Mr Harrington Brande is a proud man and a jealous man. His beloved wife has recently fled his stifling love and now Brande has transferred all of his adoration onto Nicholas. He monitors his son’s every move and is obsessed with ensuring that the bond between them is stronger than ever. But history begins to repeat itself when Nicholas befriends the gardener José. José is like no one Nicholas has ever met before and he instantly holds him in high regard. Brande does not take too kindly to having to vie for his son’s attention with the Spanish gardener, and becomes increasingly suspicious of his rival. Encouraged by his butler, Garcia, Brande becomes convinced that José is not the person he pretends to be. Blinded by love and jealousy, how far will Brande go to secure his son’s affections? In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, The Stars Look Down and Cronin’s other classic novels, The Spanish Gardener is a great book by a much-loved author.

Gracie Lindsay’s return to Levenford arouses mixed feelings: to her uncle Daniel she is the daughter he never had; to David Murray she is the woman he still loves though he is now engaged to another; and to the townspeople she is the girl who seven years earlier left Levenford pregnant and in disgrace. Now at 25 Gracie is more lovely than ever and just as careless of propriety as before . . . This is the poignant and moving story of Gracie’s struggle to win self-respect and the regard of the town. In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, The Stars Look Down and Cronin’s other classic novels, Gracie Lindsay is a great book by a much-loved author.

The poignant sequel to A Song of Sixpence The clinic stood high on an Alpine slope. Lush meadows, studded with autumn crocus, sloped steeply down. Across the valley, above the pinewoods, the high peaks were already dusted with snow. Like a toy railway, the line to Davos twisted and turned up along the mountain side. Laurence Carroll breathed in the pure, clear air. A wonderful place, a not-too-demanding job as resident doctor to the convalescent children flown out from England; it was a million miles from his Scottish childhood, the struggles to qualify and the grinding, poverty-stricken years as a young GP in the Welsh mining valleys. He was relaxed. Happy. But, soon to arrive at Zurich, a woman he had once known well, now a widowed mother, was to bring with her all the turmoil and anguish of his early years, flooding back into his casually ordered life.

Three rare novelettes by A. J. Cronin: MASCOT FOR UNCLE is the moving story of the special bond between "Uncle," a would-be doctor whose object in life is to go to China as a medical missionary but who for 17 years is unable to pass his final exams, and "Kitch," a six-year-old boy of the Edinburgh slums suffering from an advanced case of rickets. CHILD OF COMPASSION is the poignant story of Susan Sinclayne, a compassionate young doctor who struggles to find fulfillment after a freak accident horribly disfigures her lovely face. THE MAN WHO COULDN''T SPEND MONEY is the warmly human story of Joe Mardent, an orphan whose impoverished childhood instills in him a reluctance to spend-even after, through hard work and determination, he acquires great wealth!

Dr Finlay''s Casebook brings together Adventures of a Black Bag and Dr Finlay of Tannochbrae, A. J. Cronin''s two hugely popular collections featuring his most famous creation, Dr Finlay.Set in and around the fictional Scottish town of Levenford and village of Tannochbrae during the inter-war years, the stories found here are heart-warming, funny and touching, full of fascinating characters and unforgettable encounters. Made famous by the much-loved adaptations for radio and television, the classic tales of Dr Finlay, his senior colleague Dr Cameron, and their unruffled housekeeper Janet, remain as fresh and entertaining now as they were upon first publication.

Originally published in 1913. The contents Include: The Scientific Literature of Dream Problems – The Method of Dream Interpretation – Analysis of a Specimen Dream – The Dream as Wish Fulfilment – Distortion in Dreams – The Material and Sources of Dreams – The Dream Work – The Psychology of Dream Processes – etc. Many of the earliest books on psychology and psychoanalysis, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Home Farm Books are republishing many of these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Originally serialized in Redbook magazine in 1946, "The Man Who Couldn''t Spend Money" is the warmly human and moving story of Joe Mardent, an orphan whose impoverished childhood instills in him a reluctance to spend-even after, through hard work and determination, he acquires great wealth! Scottish novelist and physician A. J. Cronin was one of the most popular writers of the twentieth century. With his keen understanding of the human condition, his deep moral conscience and his extraordinary narrative skill, he imbues THE MAN WHO COULDN''T SPEND MONEY with all the qualities that have made his many other stories worldwide bestsellers.