The Old Wives' Tale

ISBN: 1438279841

Author: Bennett, Arnold

Condition: New

The Old Wives' Tale deals with the lives of two very different sisters, Constance and Sophia Baines, following their stories from their youth, working in their mother's draper's shop, into old age. It is generally regarded as one of Bennett's finest works. Bennett claimed he was inspired to write the novel upon seeing a particular older woman: "This woman was once young, slim, perhaps beautiful; certainly free from ridiculous mannerisms. Very probably she is unconscious of her singularities. Her case is a tragedy. One ought to be able to make a heartrending novel out of the history of a woman such as she. Every stout, ageing woman is not grotesque--far from it!--but there is an extreme pathos in the mere fact that every stout ageing woman was once a young girl with the unique charm of youth in her form and movements and in her mind."