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 in her favour,” while Constance is “foolishly good-natured,” with benevolence that is “eternally rising up and overpowering her reason.”
Their paths..." data-title="Книга The Old Wives’ Tale">