"In HILDA LESSWAYS (the second volume of the trilogy that begins with CLAYHANGER and ends with THESE TWAIN) Bennett relates the early life of Hilda Lessways, before her marriage to Edwin Clayhanger. Her involvement with the enigmatic, self-made man, George Cannon, and his enterprises takes her from the offices of an embryo newspaper in the Five Towns to a venture into the guesthouse business in Brighton."
"As in CLAYHANGER Bennett, in Walter Allen's words, `follows the grain of life'. Hilda, in her guilt at having failed her mother, in her relationship with Cannon, in her growing fascination for young Clayhanger, in the reality of her hopes and tragedies, is one of Bennett's most living heroines."