Wives and Daughters (Penguin Classics) Paperback – 30 May 1996

Gaskell's last novel, widely considered her masterpiece, follows the fortunes of two families in nineteenth century rural England. At its core are family relationships - father, daughter and stepmother, father and sons, father and step-daughter - all tested and strained by the romantic entanglements that ensue.Despite its underlying seriousness, the prevailing tone is one of comedy. Gaskell vividly portrays the world of the late 1820's and the forces of change within it, and her vision is always humane and progressive.The story is full of acute observation and sympathetic character study: the feudal squire clinging to old values, his naturalist son welcoming the new world of science, the local doctor and his scheming second wife, the two girls brought together by their parents' marriage...

Elizabeth Gaskell's final (and not quite finished) novel 'Wives and Daughters' is set during the mid-nineteenth century in the village of Hollingford in the Midlands, and focuses on the motherless Molly, who enjoys a close relationship with her gruff, but loving father, Doctor Gibson. When Molly is away staying with a friend of her father's, Squire Hamley and his delicate invalid wife - both of whom become very fond of the very biddable and pretty Molly - Doctor Gibson makes the decision to remarry, thinking his daughter needs the influence of woman in her life. Enter ex-governess and widow Mrs Kirkpatrick, an attractive, but rather snobbish and self-centred woman, whose presence Molly initially finds difficult to accept. However, despite her stepmother's faults and her insensitivity to the finer feelings of those around her, the new Mrs Gibson is not unkind to Molly, and when Mrs Gibson's daughter, Cynthia, arrives home from school, Molly and her stepsister, who are of a similar age, become very close to one another - a relationship which more than makes up for the lack of true empathy between Molly and her stepmother. The lovely Cynthia, however, is hiding a secret, and soon the loyal and loving Molly becomes caught up in Cynthia's web of duplicity and dissimulation - a situation that potentially could result in Molly losing her reputation, but to say more might spoil the novel for those who have yet to read it, so I will leave the remainder of the story - and there is a lot more than I have revealed in this review - for prospective readers to discover for themselves.First published in the 1860s and, as previously commented, not quite (but almost) finished, this is a very engaging story which follows the journey of two young girls towards womanhood under the watchful eye of the inhabitants of Hollingford and, as it does so, looks at the role of women in Victorian England - and more besides. I first read this novel many years ago and have been meaning to reread it for some time - however with so many unread books on my bookshelves, I find it difficult to justify the time spent on revisiting books. The solution presented itself in the form of listening to the Audible audio download version, and for this rereading I decided to opt for the abridged version, very ably narrated by Patience Tomlinson (whose wide variety of voices used for the various characters was really rather impressive). I have to confess that I used to be a little disparaging about abridged versions of novels, feeling that if a book is worth reading then it's worth reading in its entirety - however, I've now revised my opinion of audio abridgements (providing they are not too heavily abridged) as I do feel there is a place for them, especially for revisiting books. It is true that if you want the whole experience of the novel and all of the additional little subplots, then you really need to listen to or read the full-length version - and, having read the unabridged novel I can certainly say it is worth the time spent on it - but if, like me, you have read this novel before and just want to revisit it, or if you really haven't the time at the moment to embark on a novel with seven hundred or so pages, then this abridged audio version, which gives a real flavour of this very enjoyable story, is a good one to opt for.5 Stars.

This was so much better than anticipated, both for the clear picture given of life in the 1840s or so, and utterly involving in the fates of her characters, as they are well depicted. I got so anxious about their welfare, I had to peek at the last page.Another thing I loved was the author's psychological sensitivity and freedom from judgments - her characters are far from 'perfect' but she indicates this with such a brief event or conversation rather than long moralising paragraphs; and she also describes previous experiences of theirs so that the reader understands from what perspective they now see the world and make decisions.Have I missed the film or tv series made from it? I'd have thought it would be a terrific success if they could keep their hands off too much focus on costume, stop lingering on the pretty female faces forever, and the usual faults I find with tv!Interesting that the great dilemma faced by one of the major characters was blamed by society on the young woman herself, and not on the older man involved, other than that people just didn't like him for other aspects of his behaviour - today we would call what he had done much earlier, "grooming".A plea to the makers of Kindle: every time there was a Mr. or Mrs., a new paragraph ocurred, presumably because of the . There were other errors too which should not have happened - an e was occasionally replaced by a c, so that someone sat on a 'scat'. Who is asked to do this? Can't be English-speaking - but what a task for any poor creature who isn't.And once again, no list of chapters with descriptions of what occurs, at the beginning, so that once finished, the reader could return to any text more easily. Please do this!!!

Wives and Daughters is Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell’s final work and remains unfinished. It follows the seventeen-year-old Molly Gibson, whose father remarries, and her relationship with her new stepmother and stepsister. I read this as part of a book club and was prepared to read a little every day in order to finish by the end of the month. However, I quickly realized that convincing myself to read this was not going to be difficult because I was instantly enamoured with the story. There are classics that you have to drag yourself through, and sometimes you’re glad you did and sometimes you’re just glad to reach the end. This was the sort of classic that I wanted to read, and I loved every minute of this 800-page book. I found Molly to be a darling protagonist, who was too good for the world. Hyacinth, the stepmother, was so ridiculous I count help but laugh at her regularly. Towards the end, I was almost crying, despite the fact that what happened wasn’t all that surprising. Gaskell does a brilliant job of taking you through a whole range of emotions. The worst part of this is that it remains unfashioned and I would give anything to have had Gaskell be able to write an ending. This is my third Gaskell novel, and while I have enjoyed all of them, this is the first one that makes me want to seek out more from her.