description: When seventeen-year-old Molly Gibson's widowed father remarries, her life is turned upside down by the arrival of her vain, manipulative stepmother. She also acquires an intriguing new stepsister, Cynthia, glamorous, sophisticated and irresistible to every man she meets. The two girls begin to confide in one another and Molly soon finds herself as a go-between in Cynthia's love affairs - but in doing so risks losing both her own reputation and the man she secretly loves. With its lively description of the gossiping community of Hollingford and its richly drawn female characters, Elizabeth Gaskell's last novel - considered to be her finest - demonstrates an intelligent and compassionate understanding of human relationships.This text is based on the 1866 Cornhill Magazine version of the novel. It also includes notes on the textual variants between this edition and the original manuscript, a note on the story's ending and an introduction discussing the novel's challenging investigation of themes of Englishness, Darwinism and masculine authority.
language: English
title: Wives and Daughters
titlecomplete: Wives and Daughters
characters: Roger Hamley, Cynthia Kirkpatrick, Molly Gibson
genres: Fiction, Historical, British Literature, Classic Literature, Romance, Literature, Classics, 19th Century, Historical Fiction, Victorian
ratings_count: 47585
places: United Kingdom