Riceyman Steps (Penguin Modern Classics) -- Paperback <57>

Elizabeth Bowen Henry Earlforward, a shabby Clerkenwell bookseller, has retired from life to devote himself (and his wife Violet) to a consuming passion for money. Miserliness, long disguised as procrastination, can become a fatal illness. Bennett's bleak story is saved, however, by the Earlforward's maid Elsie.