This cult classic of working class life in post-war Nottingham follows the exploits of rebellious factory worker Arthur Seaton.

Working all day at a lathe leaves Arthur Seaton with energy to spare in the evenings. A hard-drinking, hard-fighting hooligan, he knows what he wants, and he's sharp enough to get it.

Before long, his carryings-on with a couple of married women become the stuff of local gossip. But then one evening he meets a young girl and life begins to look less simple…

First published in 1958, ‘Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’ achieved instant critical acclaim and helped to establish Alan Sillitoe as one of the greatest British writers of his generation. The film of the novel, starring Albert Finney, was part of the British New Wave of filmmaking in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.

“Although it was written in 1958 it was written about a rapidly changing world for young working class people, for the first time having hopes and ambitions that was far away from thier parents lives. They had full employment, and wanted to live out of the back to back terraces and get on to the new council estates. The book is written about a specific time thier present but our future. These people are now elderly and can see what they hoped for the future is not being replicated for thier children and grandchildren. Precarity, instability and unemployment has returned. It must be very sad for them go see.”
— Lisa McKenzie

This book is also available as an ebook from Barking & Dagenham Libraries