Leonora (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

Scathingly reviewed by some at the time of its publication in 1903 because of its subject matter, Bennett's third novel, Leonora, is the love story of a middle-aged woman. In response to his critics, Bennett later recorded in his preface to The Old Wives Tale, that he intended the book to be a protest against the “absurd youthfulness, the unfading youthfulness of the average heroine.”