The Old Wives' Tale

Bennett’s masterpiece… There are few more moving accounts of the effects of time, the passage of history and the slow encroachment of age than this remarkable, epic novel * Guardian *
It’s not just a wonderful story; it’s also an expressionist masterpiece, almost surreal at times. It’s also an amazing feat of empathy… It’s also very intimate, and highly emotional. In fact, it’s the perfect novel – Deborah Moggach * Independent *
Arguably the finest novel written by an Englishman in the 20th century * Daily Telegraph *
Arnold Bennett did write one indisputable masterpiece, The Old Wives’ Tale, and that is where I recommend you start… Each time I’m in the midst of reading it, I think it the best novel ever written – Wendy Lesser * New York Times *
For Bennett…compassion is not soggy. It involves understanding. The core of his writing is psychological truth, clinically observed, crisply reported * Sunday Times *
Wonderfully touching * Daily Mail *
The Old Wives Tale is the shining example of realism - the novel which…neither idealises nor caricatures – Roy Hattersley * Guardian *
This novel…established Arnold Bennett’s reputation as one of the great English novelists of the early 20th century * Washington Post *

Arnold Bennett was born in Staffordshire on 27 May 1867, the son of a solicitor. Rather than following his father into the law, Bennett moved to London at the age of twenty-one and began a career in writing . His first novel, The Man from the North, was published in 1898 during a spell as editor of a periodical - throughout his life journalism supplemented his writing career. In 1902 Bennett moved to Paris, married, and published some of his best known novels, most of which were set in The Potteries district where he grew up- Anna of the Five Towns (1902), The Old Wives Tale (1908), and the Clayhanger series (1910-1918). These works, as well as several successful plays, established him both in Europe and America as one of the most popular and acclaimed writers of his era. Bennett returned to England in 1912, and during the First World War worked for Lord Beaverbrook in the Ministry of Information. In 1921, separated from his first wife, he fell in love with an actress, Dorothy Cheston, with whom he had a child. He received the James Tait Black Award for his novel Riceyman Steps in 1923. Arnold Bennett died of typhoid in London on 27 March 1931.

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