The Old Wives' TaleFirst 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. |
Contents
A Battle 68 | |
Elephant 101 | |
The Traveller 118 | |
Escapade 137 | |
A Defeat 155 | |
The Proudest Mother 300 | |
BOOK THREE SOPHIA 1 The Elopement 311 | |
Supper 323 | |
An Ambition Satisfied 339 | |
A Crisis for Gerald 358 | |
Fever 378 | |
The Siege 413 | |
Success 439 | |
BOOK TWO CONSTANCE 1 Revolution 170 | |
Christmas and the Future 188 | |
Cyrill 204 | |
Another Crime 242 | |
The Widow 275 | |
Bricks and Mortar 287 | |
BOOK FOUR | |
The Meeting 490 | |
Towards Hotel Life 516 | |
End of Sophia 557 | |
End of Constance 590 | |
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Common terms and phrases
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