The Old Wives' Tale Arnold Bennett - The Old Wives' Tale is a novel by English author Arnold Bennett, first published in 1908. Inspired by an old lady that Bennett saw in a cafe, and wondering how her life had been when she was younger, The Old Wives' Tale is the story of the Baines sisters, shy, retiring Constance, and defiant, romantic Sophia. The novel traces their lives from childhood in their father's drapery shop in Bursley, England, through their married lives, to the modern industrial age, when they are reunited as old women. The setting moves from the Five Towns of the Staffordshire Potteries to exotic and cosmopolitan Paris.