The Old Wives’ Tale
The Old Wives’ Tale is Arnold Bennett’s masterpiece, published in 1908, a sweeping and deeply human novel that follows two sisters across the whole of their lives. Constance and Sophia Baines grow up above their mother’s draper’s shop in the industrial Potteries of Staffordshire, and the book traces how one stays to lead a quiet provincial life while the other elopes to Paris and is caught up in war and hardship. Bennett’s great theme is time itself, the slow and unstoppable way it turns lively young girls into old women, and he tells it with such patience and truth that the ordinary becomes profoundly moving. This free PDF and EPUB offers the complete novel.
About the Author
Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was an English novelist best known for realist fiction set in the Staffordshire Potteries, but also a writer of lively popular thrillers and ‘fantasias’ like this one.
See all books by Arnold Bennett →
Listen to The Old Wives’ Tale Audiobook Free
Listen to The Old Wives’ Tale by Arnold Bennett free online. The full audiobook (23 hr 19 min, 34 chapters, read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)) streams free on this page.
The Old Wives’ Tale (1908) is a public domain work.
| # | Chapter | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preface | 11:37 | |
| 2 | Bk 1 Mrs. Baines Ch 1 The Square | 49:37 | |
| 3 | Bk 1 Ch 2 The Tooth | 25:19 | |
| 4 | Bk1 Ch 3 A Battle Pt 1 | 41:02 | |
| 5 | Bk1 Ch 3 A Battle Pt 2 | 38:40 | |
| 6 | Bk 1 Ch 4 Elephant | 41:57 | |
| 7 | Bk 1 Ch 5 The Traveller | 45:11 | |
| 8 | Bk 1 Ch 6 Escapade | 42:49 | |
| 9 | Bk 1 Ch 7 A Defeat | 34:00 | |
| 10 | Bk 2 Constance Ch 1 Revolution | 44:35 | |
| 11 | Bk2 Ch 2 Christmas and the Future | 39:31 | |
| 12 | Bk 2 Ch 3 Cyril | 47:01 | |
| 13 | Bk 2 Ch 4 Crime | 43:07 | |
| 14 | Bk 2 Ch 5 Another Crime Pt 1 | 36:29 | |
| 15 | Bk 2 Ch 5 Another Crime Pt 2 | 43:00 | |
| 16 | Bk 2 Ch 6 The Widow | 28:11 | |
| 17 | Bk 2 Ch 7 Bricks and Mortar | 32:04 | |
| 18 | Bk 2 Ch 8 The Proudest Mother | 25:57 | |
| 19 | Bk 3 Sophia Ch 1 The Elopement | 29:43 | |
| 20 | Bk 3 Ch 2 Supper | 37:11 | |
| 21 | Bk 3 Ch 3 An Ambition Satisfied | 44:47 | |
| 22 | Bk 3 Ch 4 A Crisis for Gerald | 46:29 | |
| 23 | Bk 3 Ch 5 Fever Pt 1 | 57:30 | |
| 24 | Bk 3 Ch 5 Fever Pt 2 | 27:08 | |
| 25 | Bk 3 Ch 6 The Siege | 1:03:41 | |
| 26 | Bk 3 Ch 7 Success | 44:15 | |
| 27 | BBk 4 What Life is Ch 1 Frensham's Pt 1 | 33:52 | |
| 28 | Bk 4 Ch 1 Frensham's Pt 2 | 43:00 | |
| 29 | Bk 4 Ch 2 The Meeting | 1:02:37 | |
| 30 | Bk 4 Ch 3 Towards Hotel Life Pt 1 | 48:47 | |
| 31 | Bk 4 Ch 3 Towards Hotel Life Pt 2 | 47:31 | |
| 32 | Bk 4 Ch 4 End of Sophia Pt 1 | 38:01 | |
| 33 | Bk 4 Ch 4 End of Sophia Pt 2 | 42:40 | |
| 34 | Bk 4 Ch 5 End of Constance | 1:01:14 |
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