I enjoyed this examination of two women's lives from the beginning (young and beautiful) to the end (death in old age). In a couple spots it dragged a little but on the whole, kept me interested and engaged. I enjoyed following these two sisters and their unfolding lives, especially as they made very different choices early on. I found this story poignant and bittersweet.

I chose this book as my July read for a book published in the first decade of the 20th century. I started it a few days early and loved it so much continued to read, finishing it today.
I loved this book so much I feel like picking it up and reading it all over again. What more can be said?

One of the best description in fiction of the lives of 2 sisters. Even though this story is set in Victorian and Edwardian times, these women could be women of today. Even though this was written by a man, I found myself reading about myself in the thoughts of the sisters, their feelings, impulses and choices. Bennett writes with feeling, intelligence and ironic charm.

Brilliant. Read it!

H.G. Wells may think this book is a masterpiece, but I myself don't see the allure. The Old Wives' Tale tells the story of two sisters, only one year apart, and their journey from lively young girls into unhappy old women. One sister, Sophia, runs away with a handsome man only to be trapped in a loveless marriage until her husband deserts her a few years later. Intelligent and resourceful, she manages to make money running a hotel until her 50's, never truly happy but at least feeling like she has a purpose. Her older sister, Constance, marries a shopkeep, and is moderately happy until he dies, leaving her a widow with a spoiled son to raise. Both women are finally reunited in their old age and live together, both compromising their happiness for some companionship. Eventually they die, tired and used up.

Seriously. That is the plot of this book. Sorry if I spoiled it for you, but I sort of wish someone had spoiled it for me before I wasted two weeks reading it.

Okay, I'm being a little harsh here. The writing was, at times, beautiful, and the characters really did represent the tragedy of our short time on this earth. But the whole thing was so depressing it was hard not to throw the book across the room. I know that in real life we often end up unhappy and alone, but I don't need to read about it in books. I'm not asking for a sappy, happy ending, and I don't mind a little realistic suffering. I think the problem here is that I didn't care enough about these women to cry for their ruined lives, their unhappiness just frustrated and annoyed me. Perhaps it's a brilliant masterpiece of its time, but I think there's a reason few people read it today.

I enjoyed this immensly! The story tells the tale of Constance and Sophia Baines' lives from girlhood to death at the end of the 19th century. They were, perhaps, from today's point of view, not very exceptional lives - especially Constance's - but it is so well written and Bennett has such a delightful way of describing everything that you don't really notice this! His main characters have great depth, and the narratve is wonderfully tongue in cheek. My enjoyment was no doubt increased by the fact that I learnt a lot about the Siege of Paris in 1870, and also because I was constantly reminded of my grandparents and great-aunt, although they were born around 1900. This is most likely because they had retained many values and traditions of the Victorian era that are so well painted in this book. Last but not least, thank you Andy Minter, for being such a wonderful storyteller!

I read this a couple times in high school and remember really liking it - but can't get it 5 stars as I don't remember it well enough to rate it. Must re-read!

Arnold Bennett is one of the great under-read authors ever. His prose is shining-carved out of marble each word beautiful resonating off the surrounding ones. But really-his craft is so pure and every word counts. Of course, it's good his writing is so unsentimental because it keeps his stories from being unbearable sad (instead of just barely bearably painful). This is the book I would recommend people begin with if they don't know Bennett; I found it the most accessible with even a little humor (irony, actually: Bennett's not really one for funny-or fun). I wish I could enter his written universe for the first time again. Whatever the subject, the people or the plot, his writing (like Bach's music, which for some reason it reminds me of) and like Trollope's writing (only always bleaker) is eminently sane.

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!

Two sisters, quite dissimilar, embark upon their lives and part as very young ladies and reunite as much older women. The Old Wives’ Tale was reportedly based on Bennett’s observations of an elderly woman dining alone in Paris. He believed her peculiar behavior invited ridicule and so wondered at her life as a young woman.

Set in Burslem and Paris beginning near the mid 1800′s through the turn of the century, we meet the appropriately named Baines sisters; sophisticated Sophia and constant Constance and follow them through the end of their lives.

Constance Baines is the homebody, seemingly content with her life at her family’s drapery shop. She accepts her position and seems to have no ambition beyond marriage and supporting the family’s business. She marries Samuel Povey, the shop’s dedicated assistant, ensuring her permanence in Burslem. Family tragedies with the Povey’s take their toll and impact the uneventful days. A seemingly simple woman, I believe there was a little more to her that was never quite revealed. Even upon overhearing things not meant for her ears, she behaved unaffected, but surely was not.

Quite unlike her sister, Sophia Baines decides at an early age that she by no means intends to stay tethered to the family business. She runs away to elope with the young cur, Gerald Scales, who abandons her in Paris. Anticipating troubles, she manages to take money from her husband who had no qualms about leaving her abandoned and penniless. Her wits and self-preservation carry her through and she eventually becomes a successful pension owner, but not until she earns the battle scars of life. Her evidential feelings of superiority to her sister cannot mask her regret for the one thing she does not have; a child of her own.

Chirac, a French acquaintance of Gerald Scales falls in love with Sophia, but the feelings are not mutual. A journalist and a gentleman, he helps Sophia to succeed and become an independent and wealthy woman, When he realizes his adoration is one-sided, he departs in a balloon destined for failure. Bennett’s time writing in Paris surely was the inspiration for this character.

Quotes:

Mrs. Baines had suffered much that day. She knew that she was in an irritable, nervous state, and therefore she said to herself, in her quality of wise woman, “I must watch myself. I mustn’t let myself go.” And she thought how reasonable she was. She did not guess that all her gestures betrayed her; nor did it occur to her that few things are more galling than the spectacle of a person, actuated by lofty motives, obviously trying to be kind and patient under what he considers to be extreme provocation.

He was adopting the injured magisterial tone of the man who is ridiculously trying to conceal from himself and others that he has recently behaved like an ass.



Mr. Bennett evidently had keen insight into the human psyche so I’d love to chat him up over his own upbringing. That he escaped a mundane life to pursue his literary ambitions is a topic I’d applaud him for over a glass of wine although I’d steer clear of the criticism he apparently confronted.

My rating for The Old Wives’ Tale is an 8 out of 10.

Great book. Don't be put off because it was published in 1908. It's an easy book to read.

Finished: 07 November 2017
Title: The Old Wives Tales
Genre: fiction
Score: A++
Review: This was THE best novel on the Modern Library’s Top 100 Novels list I’ve read so far. It is strange how fate has changed the lives of the sisters Sophia and Constance. Sophia’s charm and beauty was dazzling…but she was mischievous, proud. She had sinned in the eyes of the Victorians. She fled to Paris. Constance’s had remained, her father had wanted, quiet and the model of consideration. She lived at St. Luke's Square in Bursley her entire life.
I listened to the audio book (24 hrs) over the course of 4 days during a weekend trip. The story was perfect while waiting for the train, a boat trip to a coastal island, walking in the dunes and enjoying an aperitif during a beach sunset. I am very impressed with Arnold Bennett’s masterpiece!
#MustReadClassic

I LOVED THIS BOOK! First published in 1908, it read like a modern-day novel - not tedious and wordy like many Victorian novels. The author painted such vivid characters, scenery and narrative that it was very easy to get swept up in the storyline. Covering a span of 50 years the story is about two sisters, Constance and Sophia Baines, following their lives from youth into old age. The book is broken down into four "books": Book 1 is about the teen-aged girls and their mother; Book 2 is a chronicle of Constance's life; Book 3 is Sophia's story and in Book 4 the sisters are reunited in their old age. Constance is the 'constant" one who remains at home and lives a very provincial life; Sophia, the "sophisticated" one chooses romance and adventure and elopes to France with a traveling salesman. There is much in this book that can relate to our lives today.

In the author's own preface to the edition I read (which I read when I was about 2/3 through the book), he mentions that the public reaction to the book when first published was that it was "honest but dull, and that when it wasn't dull it had a regrettable tendency to facetiousness." Bennett doesn't dispute this idea; in fact, he says it confirms an opinion held by someone who's judgement he trusted. Though he adds that over time, the reception of the book became "less and less frigid." Not too sterling a recommendation, but one I'd agree with. There's nothing bad about the book, but like many Victorian novels, nothing much happens. The writing is crisper and flows better than many novels of the time, but the story of two sisters' lives over the course of 50 or so years doesn't really add up to much. I was much more interested in Constance's story, of staying at home and running the clothing shop inherited from her father. Sophia's story, running off to Paris with a husband who soon abandons her and eventually becoming a landlady of a small boarding house, just didn't hold my interest (despite its potential to be more).