Найти книгу: "The Old Wives' Tale"

Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was a self-designated English novelist. He wrote an astonishing quantity in a great variety of genres while creating a broad range of themes and characters. Winning a literary competition in «Tit-Bits» magazine in 1889 was the kick-off to his literary career. The early novels of Bennett played a significant role in the transition from the Victorian to the modern novel. A contemporary of Henry James, Joseph Conrad, and Thomas Hardy, he helped to develop the realistic movement in England. In his career, Bennett won only one major literary award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his work «Riceyman Steps». «The Old Wives' Tale» produces a fantastic portrayal of two very different sisters, Constance and Sophia Baines, as they go through a variety of situations in their marriages and their relationships with their parents. It begins with stories from their youth and continues into their old age, covering a period of about 70 years in the cities of Burslem and Paris.

A level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by Janet Hardy-Gould. There were six of them – three Katherines, two Annes, and a Jane. One of them was the King’s wife for twenty-four years, another for only a year and a half. One died, two were divorced, and two were beheaded. It was a dangerous, uncertain life. After the King’s death in 1547, his sixth wife finds a box of old letters – one from each of the first five wives. They are sad, angry, frightened letters. They tell the story of what it was like to be the wife of Henry VIII of England.