The Old Wives' Tale

The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett

"The Old Wives' Tale" by Arnold Bennett follows the lives of two sisters, Constance and Sophia Baines, from their childhood in the English town of Bursley to their later years. The novel explores themes of domesticity, the passage of time, and the contrasting paths of the sisters. Constance marries a successful businessman and leads a stable life, while Sophia, more adventurous and passionate, experiences a tumultuous marriage and travels to France. The narrative juxtaposes their experiences, highlighting the impact of choices and societal expectations on women's lives. Ultimately, the story reflects on the enduring nature of love, memory, and the wisdom of age.

By Arnold Bennett · First published 1911 · Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Family Saga · 60 chapters · 259,982 words

First lines

Those two girls, Constance and Sophia Baines, paid no heed to the manifold interest of their situation, of which, indeed, they had never been conscious. They were, for example, established almost precisely on the fifty-third parallel of latitude. A little way to the north of them, in the creases of a hill famous for its religious orgies, rose the river Trent, the calm and characteristic stream of middle England. Somewhat further northwards, in the near neighbourhood of the highest public-house in the realm, rose two lesser rivers, the Dane and the Dove, which, quarrelling in early infancy, turned their backs on each other, and, the one by favour of the Weaver and the other by favour of the Trent, watered between them the whole width of England, and poured themselves respectively into the Irish Sea and the German Ocean. What a county of modest, unnoticed rivers! What a natural, simple county, content to fix its boundaries by these tortuous island brooks, with their comfortable names -- Trent, Mease, Dove, Tern, Dane, Mees, Stour, Tame, and even hasty Severn! Not that the Severn is suitable to the county! In the county excess is deprecated. The county is happy in not exciting remark. It is content that Shropshire should possess that swollen bump, the Wrekin, and that the exaggerated wildness of the Peak should lie over its border. It does not desire to be a pancake like Cheshire. It has everything that England has, including thirty miles of Watling Street; and England can show nothing more beautiful and nothing uglier than the works of nature and the works of man to be seen within the limits of the county. It is England in little, lost in the midst of England, unsung by searchers after the extreme; perhaps occasionally somewhat sore at this neglect, but how proud in the instinctive cognizance of its representative features and traits!

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Domestic Fiction · English Literature · Family Drama · Social Commentary · Realism · Victorian Era · Working Class Life · Marriage and Relationships · Love Story · Coming of Age · Class Conflict · Industrialization

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