The Old Wives' Tale: by Arnold Bennett

The Old Wives' Tale, considered to be one of Bennett's finest works, begins in the 1860s, in the industrial "Five Towns" of the English Midlands, where he set many of his partially-autobiographical stories.The novel follows the prosperous Baines family, who live above the successful clothing shop they own in the town of Bursley (based on Burslem, in Staffordshire). Even when the two Baines daughters were still young, their characters are already formed. Sophia has "youth, beauty, and rank i...