The Modern Novel

Home » Wales » Caradoc Evans » This Way to Heaven

Caradoc Evans: This Way to Heaven

The heroes, if that is the right word, of this novel are Jasper Sowell and Ben Tugard but they are clearly based on Evans’ own experience in the world of commerce, as Evans again viciously satirises the greedy and hypocritical bosses, this time represented by Peter Grinley, the employer of Sowell and Tugard, and Simon Moreland, the banker. Jasper is caught stealing from his employer but, after serving time in jail, is re-employed by Grinley, while Ben is fired by Moreland. The pair then drift through life, making money in often dubious ways, practicing hypocrisy in religion (Only atheists read the Bible Grinley says) and love. They set up in business but are unable to make a success of it. Every man aspires to heaven by another man’s labour Evans remarks and this is the story of these four men who try to do this, heaven, of course, being wealth rather than religion. The rest of the book is the ups and downs of these four men and the men and women they associate with. Evans, as usual, does not pull his punches one bit, damning his fellow countrymen and -women for their greed, their hypocrisy, their pettiness, their scheming. He has not a good word to say about the Welsh.

Publishing history

First published 1934 by Rich and Cowan