Wives and Daughters

by Elizabeth Gaskell

Overview

"My dear! why don't you ask him to dinner here? A little quiet dinner, you know. Cook is quite up to it; and we would all of us wear blacks and lilacs; he couldn't consider that as gaiety."
Mr. Gibson took no more notice of these suggestions than by shaking his head. He had grown accustomed to his wife by this time, and regarded silence on his own part as a great preservative against long inconsequential arguments. But every time that Mrs. Gibson was struck by Cynthia's beauty, she thought it more and more advisable that Mr. Osbourne Hamley should be cheered up by a quiet little dinner-party. As yet no one but the ladies of Hollingford and Mr. Ashton, the vicar-that hopeless and impracticable old bachelor-had seen Cynthia; and what was the good of having a lovely daughter, if there were none but old women to admire her?
-from Chapter XIX: "Cynthia's Arrival"

As interest in 19th-century English literature by women has been reinvigorated by a resurgence in popularity of the works of Jane Austen, readers are rediscovering a writer whose fiction, once widely beloved, fell by the wayside. British novelist ELIZABETH CLEGHORN GASKELL (1810-1865)-whose books were sometimes initially credited to, simply, "Mrs. Gaskell"-is now recognized as having created some of the most complex and broadminded depictions of women in the literature of the age, and is today justly celebrated for her precocious use of the regional dialect and slang of England's industrial North.

Wives and Daughters, Gaskell's sixth and final novel, was originally serialized in Cornhill Magazine between 1864 and 1866, and was not quite finished at the time of the author's death. The story, of shy Molly Gibson and her far more spirited stepsister, Cynthia, and the men who vie for their hands, remains incomplete, but this edition features notes from the Cornhill editor regarding Gaskell's plans for the tale's ending.

Friend and literary companion to such figures as Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë-the latter of whom Gaskell wrote an applauded 1857 biography-Gaskell is today being restored to her rightful place alongside her. This delightful replica volume is an excellent opportunity for 21st-century fans of British literature to embrace one of its most unjustly forgotten authors.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605205571
Publisher:	Cosimo Classics
Publication date:	12/01/2008
Pages:	640
Sales rank:	923,192
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.56(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865) was an English author who wrote biographies, short stories, and novels. Because her work often depicted the lives of Victorian society, including the individual effects of the Industrial Revolution, Gaskell has impacted the fields of both literature and history. While Gaskell is now a revered author, she was criticized and overlooked during her lifetime, dismissed by other authors and critics because of her gender. However, after her death, Gaskell earned a respected legacy and is credited to have paved the way for feminist movements.

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