Wives and Daughters

by Elizabeth Gaskell

Overview

Secrets and scandals steer a young woman’s life as she comes of age and finds love in Victorian England.
 
Seventeen-year-old Molly Gibson has grown up under the watchful eye of her widowed father, the doctor Mr. Gibson. After one of his apprentices develops an interest in Molly, Mr. Gibson feels the only way to protect her is to send her to live with the Hamley family.
 
With his daughter away, Gibson decides to remarry, giving Molly a new mother and sister. Although her stepmother is manipulative, Molly gains an ally in her stepsister, Cynthia, who is educated, worldly, and irresistible to just about any man she meets.
 
Growing closer to the Hamleys and her new stepsister, Molly also finds herself mired in their scandals—and the town’s gossip. If she hopes to set things right, she must risk her own reputation, as well as the man she secretly loves.
 
By the author of Mary Barton and North and South, this is a story of love, family, and the challenges of both, as relevant today as it was in the nineteenth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504045834
Publisher:	Open Road Media
Publication date:	06/06/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	491
Sales rank:	953,949
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865) was an English author and social activist best known for her novel North and South, a searing portrait of the industrial revolution and the tale of an unlikely romance between a beautiful and headstrong minister’s daughter and a combative mill owner.

Table of Contents

I. THE DAWN OF A GALA DAY
II. A NOVICE AMONGST THE GREAT FOLK
III. MOLLY GIBSON'S CHILDHOOD
IV. MR. GIBSON'S NEIGHBOURS
V. CALF-LOVE
VI. A VISIT TO THE HAMLEYS
VII. FORESHADOWS OF LOVE PERILS
VIII. DRIFTING INTO DANGER
IX. THE WIDOWER AND THE WIDOW
X. A CRISIS
XI. MAKING FRIENDSHIP
XII. PREPARING FOR THE WEDDING
XIII. MOLLY GIBSON'S NEW FRIENDS
XIV. MOLLY FINDS HERSELF PATRONISED
XV. THE NEW MAMMA
XVI. THE BRIDE AT HOME
XVII. TROUBLE AT HAMLEY HALL
XVIII. MR. OSBORNE'S SECRET
XIX. CYNTHIA'S ARRIVAL
XX. MRS. GIBSON'S VISITORS
XXI. THE HALF-SISTERS
XXII. THE OLD SQUIRE'S TROUBLES
XXIII. OSBORNE HAMLEY REVIEWS HIS POSITION
XXIV. MRS. GIBSON'S LITTLE DINNER
XXV. HOLLINGFORD IN A BUSTLE
XXVI. A CHARITY BALL
XXVII. FATHER AND SONS
XXVIII. RIVALRY
XXIX. BUSH-FIGHTING
XXX. OLD WAYS AND NEW WAYS
XXXI. A PASSIVE COQUETTE
XXXII. COMING EVENTS
XXXIII. BRIGHTENING PROSPECTS
XXXIV. A LOVER'S MISTAKE
XXXV. THE MOTHER'S MANŒUVRE
XXXVI. DOMESTIC DIPLOMACY
XXXVII. A FLUKE, AND WHAT CAME OF IT
XXXVIII. MR. KIRKPATRICK, Q.C.
XXXIX. SECRET THOUGHTS OOZE OUT
XL. MOLLY GIBSON BREATHES FREELY
XLI. GATHERING CLOUDS
XLII. THE STORM BURSTS
XLIII. CYNTHIA'S CONFESSION
XLIV. MOLLY GIBSON TO THE RESCUE
XLV. CONFIDENCES
XLVI. HOLLINGFORD GOSSIPS
XLVII. SCANDAL AND ITS VICTIMS
XLVIII. AN INNOCENT CULPRIT
XLIX. MOLLY GIBSON FINDS A CHAMPION
L. CYNTHIA AT BAY
LI. "TROUBLES NEVER COME ALONE"
LII. SQUIRE HAMLEY'S SORROW
LIII. UNLOOKED-FOR ARRIVALS
LIV. MOLLY GIBSON'S WORTH IS DISCOVERED
LV. AN ABSENT LOVER RETURNS
LVI. "OFF WITH THE OLD LOVE, AND ON WITH THE NEW"
LVII. BRIDAL VISITS AND ADIEUX
LVIII. REVIVING HOPES AND BRIGHTENING PROSPECTS
LIX. MOLLY GIBSON AT HAMLEY HALL
LX. ROGER HAMLEY'S CONFESSION
CONCLUDING REMARKS [By the Editor of the "Cornhill Magazine."]

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"No nineteenth-century novel contains a more devastating rejection than this of the Victorian male assumption of moral authority."
—Pam Morris

Editorial Reviews

"No nineteenth-century novel contains a more devastating rejection than this of the Victorian male assumption of moral authority."
—Pam Morris

From the Publisher

The eternal theme of thwarted love and scheming ambition is set in the microcosm of a provincial British village. Replete with nineteenth-century social values and hierarchies, Gaskell's important work follows the life of Molly Gibson. When her father remarries, Molly's life becomes complicated by a worldly and impetuous stepsister and a snobbish stepmother. Gaskell's vivid prose captures the period's formality and evokes images of bygone lifestyles and environs. Narrator Patience Tomlinson possesses an astonishing vocal range—from the high pitches of youth to the gruff basses of elderly gentlemen. Her portrayals of the novel's many characters and dialects are distinctive, making all the characters identifiable in terms of their age, gender, and station. Tomlinson's expressiveness keeps the listener spellbound. A.W. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2010 - AudioFile