The Old Wives Tale

Written by Arnold Bennett

Narrated by Eileen Atkins

Spanning nearly half a century, The Old Wives Tale is epic in scale and scope, tracing as it does the effects of time on two sisters and their surroundings. The novel is a domestic story told with tenderness, and is concerned not with heroic statesmen or soldiers, but with small details of daily life in a way which demonstrates Bennett’s great debt to French realist writers. The action is concentrated mainly within the provincial town of Bursley, a startling contrast to Paris where Sophia and Gerald elope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Copyright Group
• Release date: Jan 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781780001968

Arnold Bennett

Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) was an English novelist renowned as a prolific writer throughout his entire career. The most financially successful author of his day, he lent his talents to numerous short stories, plays, newspaper articles, novels, and a daily journal totaling more than one million words.

Reviews for The Old Wives Tale

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't really know what to say about this book. It was easy to read and kept my interest throughout; some passages were humorously sarcastic (I wish there had been more of these!). Despite the title, it is really the story of the lives of 2 sisters from teen years until their deaths. Constance and Sophia would have been contemporaries of Meg and Jo in Little Women so it is interesting to see the similarities & differences due to their different settings. One thing that struck me in the early parts of the book was how teenaged girls haven't changed much in 150 years!

[lucybrown_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

At long last I have finished it! Arnold Bennett is one of the authors I have always meant to read; however, I never really made much effort to do so. One reason I suppose that I haven't rushed out to read his work is that it comes with that "naturalist" label,and that is a category that is less appealing to me. I suppose my evaluation of the books is that it is a minutely observed portrait of two sisters of different temperaments coming to womanhood in the mid-19 century. Yet minutely observed is a bit of an understatement; it is,in fact, tedious at times. The last quarter of the book found me skipping largish passages. The characters are well established. While Constance is often referred to as the "very pattern" of a wife and mother, she never slips into a mere stereotype. Sophia, the more beautiful and willful of the sisters, is a marvel of industry and ingenuity. Constance's son Cyril nearly rivals the Georges of The Magnificent Ambersons and Vanity Fair in egocentricity and maternal neglect, and general thoughtlessness, though, on the whole he is more likable, and at least not a dolt and lay about. And Constance isn't brainless enough as to ignore his every act of indifference and fancy him a paragon.

The book is sometimes termed as a tragedy, and I suppose it is in some ways. I won't say much more here about that since I don't want to give anything away. One of the more delightful things about the book is Bennett sympatehtic depiction of admirable woman of spirit, something at which few male writers of the time period were especially adept. I certainly got the sense that he liked these woman and admired them.

[palaverofbirds · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very enjoyable, an interesting plot of intersecting lives of two sisters who forged different destinies. Seemed quite modern, or ahead of its time, I would've assumed it was decades newer than it is.

[cdeuker · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Realistic fiction in the tradition of Zola. Bennett follows two sisters as they move from young girls to old women. No sentimentality at all--there is not one attractive character in the book. Constance stays in the shop her whole life, marries the hired man (Povey) and has one child, Cyril, who shows no particular gratitude to her for her devotion to him. Sophie runs off with Gerald Scales who squanders all their money and then leave her alone in Paris where she makes a life for herself as an inn keeper. Well written, though the construction is a little clunky. (Bennett follows one sister until she is near 50 and then backs up to the other sister at 19.)

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Arnold Bennett's The Old Wives' Tale is a good, but not great, novel about the lives led by two women from a small town in England. While he writes with both a high degree of realism and historical accuracy there are moments, especially in the opening chapters, that test the reader's patience. His devotion to the quotidian details of everyday life does not always rise to the level of interest, even when presented well by a master prose stylist. Our Lincoln Park Book Group discussed this novel this evening and concluded that Bennett succeeded in his attempt at realism and that the characters, particularly the two sisters, Sophia and Constance, had depth and believability.Bennett's ability to successfully develop believable female characters with the protagonists is one of the best aspects of this novel. His realistic style compares favorably with William Dean Howells whose novel, The Rise of Silas Lapham, also demonstrates a sensitive portrayal of women. I found that the novel became more interesting as each of the four sections unfolded, ultimately becoming a satisfying portrayal of small town life during the end of the Victorian era.

[strandbooks_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Old Wives Tale follows two sisters, Constance and Sophia as they age. It begins in the 1860s when the girls are teens. One sister stays home in the middle of England, while the other is in Paris. Their lives are affected by the changes due to the industrial revolution.This book reminded me a lot of Dreiser. I think Bennett would be considered a realist. Also, I liked the preface because Bennett explains the life experience that gave him the idea for the book.