The Old Wives' Tale is a novel by Arnold Bennett, first published in January 1908. It deals with the lives of two very different sisters, Constance and Sophia Baines, following their stories from their youth, working in their mother's draper's shop, into old age. It covers a period of approximately 65 years roughly from 1840 to 1905, and is set in Bursley and Paris. It is generally regarded as one of Bennett's finest works.