Old Wives' Tale

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Arnold Bennett, Sathnam Sanghera: Old Wives' Tale (2014, Penguin Random House)

752 pages

English language

Published Nov. 6, 2014 by Penguin Random House.

ISBN:
978-1-4481-9254-0
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(1 review)

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.

38 editions

Review of 'The Old Wives Tale' on 'Goodreads'

I am a little surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I'm generally not a fan of period fiction, nor of the snobby pretensions of Victorian society. This book, however, despite the stilted late 19th/early 20th century language, was very readable, frequently humorous, and surprisingly engaging.

My only complaint is that it can be a bit long and tedious at points, but those points were rare.

Subjects

  • Fiction, general
  • Sisters, fiction
  • Great britain, social life and customs, fiction