At New Year, salesman Gerald Scales arrives on the Baines' door step in the snow.

Starring Gillian Kearney and Katy Cavanagh.

Arnold Bennett's novel follows the lives of two very different sisters who grow up above a thriving drapery business in the Potteries, during the 1860s.

Dramatised by Stephen Wyatt.

Constance .... Gillian Kearney
Sophia .... Katy Cavanagh
Narrator .... Phillip Jackson
Sam Povey .... Ian Dunn
Gerald Scales .... Nicholas Boulton
Mrs Baines .... Barbara Marten

Director: Claire Grove

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2004. Show less