First published in 1908, "The Old Wives' Tale" affirms the integrity of ordinary lives as it tells the story of the Baines sisters - shy, retiring Constance and defiant, romantic Sophia - over the course of nearly half a century. Bennett traces the sisters' lives from childhood in their father's drapery shop in provincial Bursley, England, during the mid-Victorian era, through their married lives, to the modern industrial age, when they are reunited as old women. The setting moves from the Five Towns of Staffordshire to exotic and cosmopolitan Paris, while the action moves from the subdued domestic routine of the Baines household to the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
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About the Author
Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) His first novel, A Man From the North, appeared in 1898 and in 1900 he finished The Grand Babylon Hotel, published in 1902, and began Anna of the Five Towns (1902), in which he first started to use the Potteries of his boyhood as a setting for his novels. The Old Wives' Tale (1908) was written in France and it was followed by the Clayhanger trilogy: Clayhanger (1910), Hilda Lessways (1911) and These Twain (1916). His works also include several plays, two volumes of short stories and several other novels.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What life is,
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This review is from: The Old Wives' Tale (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)
I read a 1911 hardback edition, with an Arnold Bennett's introduction which gave away a lot of the plot. In this review, I'll try not to make the mistake that Arnold Bennett made -- that may be the only mistake in the book. This is one of those rare books which feature people and places you know: the characters act -- not as you expect them to act -- but as real people do. And that's not all: this book -- with one of the dullest titles imaginable -- gives us a microcosm of life in the late nineteenth century but one which is connected to life in the 21st. It's recognizable, and yet it isn't. Threaded in this book are histories of marketing, mercantilism, urban developement, fashion, mass transit. They are presented in such a way that you can see how we ended up where we are.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beauty and Frailty of Human Endeavor,
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This review is from: The Old Wives' Tale (Paperback)
Biography of 2 English sisters spanning later half of 19th century. Constance, the good-natured older sister, grew up, married and raised a family all in the bonding accordance of social and familial expectation, while the beautiful Sophia's stubbornly independent streak propelled her to elope from her family, country and tradition into an utterly varied life. Both main characters are brilliantly etched inside and out, divulging both the beauty and frailty of human endeavor.
13 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Old Wives Tale,
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This review is from: The Old Wives' Tale (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)
This novel produces a wonderful portrayal of two sisters as they go through various situations in their marriages and their relationships with
their parents.
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