The Old Wives' Tale: A New EdA classic work of English fiction which celebrates the romance of even the most ordinary lives as it tells the story of the two Baines sisters, placid stay-at-home Constance and rebellious Sophia, from their girlhood to their last days. They move from the family drapery shop in provincial Bursley during the repressive mid-Victorian period to old age in the modern era of mass marketing and the internal combustion engine. The setting ranges from the Wesleyan Methodist chapel in Bursley to a Paris brothel, the action from the controlled domestic routine of the Baines household to wife murder and the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1. |
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Page vi
... woman such as she . " Every stout , ageing woman is not grotesque - far from it ! -but there is an extreme pathos in the mere fact that every stout ageing woman was once a young girl with the unique charm of youth in her form and move ...
... woman such as she . " Every stout , ageing woman is not grotesque - far from it ! -but there is an extreme pathos in the mere fact that every stout ageing woman was once a young girl with the unique charm of youth in her form and move ...
Page 315
... woman whose vermilion cloak lay around her like a fortification spoke to her escort . He did not understand . He tried to express himself in French , and failed . Then the woman recommenced , talking at length . When she had done he ...
... woman whose vermilion cloak lay around her like a fortification spoke to her escort . He did not understand . He tried to express himself in French , and failed . Then the woman recommenced , talking at length . When she had done he ...
Page 365
... woman who had supped at Sylvain's with the quarrelsome Englishman four years ago . She could not rid herself of this ... woman sitting by her bed , and the woman was crying . " Why are you crying ? " Sophia asked wonderingly . And the ...
... woman who had supped at Sylvain's with the quarrelsome Englishman four years ago . She could not rid herself of this ... woman sitting by her bed , and the woman was crying . " Why are you crying ? " Sophia asked wonderingly . And the ...
Contents
THE WIDOW VII BRICKS AND MORTAR VIII THE PROUDEST MOTHER PAGE | 3 |
PAGE | 149 |
THE ELOPEMENT | 293 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
afternoon antimacassar asked Aunt Harriet Baines's beautiful bedroom began Boldero Bursley calm Chirac Constance's corner Critchlow Cyril Daniel Povey Dick Povey doctor door drawing-room dress exclaimed eyes face father felt Five Towns Fossette francs Frensham gaze Gerald Scales gesture girl glanced Hanbridge hand harmonium head heard heart Hortense Schneider hour John Baines King Street kitchen knew laudanum laughed leave Lily lips lived looked Lord Byron Luke's Square Madame Foucault Maggie Mardon Matthew Mericarp Miss Chetwynd Miss Insull morning mother murmured mysterious never night o'clock once Paris parlour Peel-Swynnerton Povey's replied Samuel Povey scarcely sciatica seemed servant Siege of Paris sister smiled stairs stance stared strange suddenly sure talk tell thing thought tion told tone voice whispered wife window woman word young