false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174341632m/383206.jpg 383206 44 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 <i>Cornhill Magazine</i> 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. 816009 1866 Wives and Daughters (Penguin Classics) total:1785|5:692|4:754|3:281|2:42|1:16| 1785 7419 3280 424 3 4 false false Wed Oct 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 08 16:14:01 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 22 15:00:36 -0700 2008
This is, in every sense of the phrase, the never-ending story.

I had been wanting to see the BBC's film version of this book for years, but never got around to it. In a story too complicated to explain, I was not able to get the video, so decided I'd try to read t...more...]]> 5 4 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 04 15:13:07 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 15 17:51:27 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1997 Fri Aug 17 17:59:03 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 17 18:26:03 -0700 2007 The book focuses on one Molly Gibson, a sweet girl, who is almost too good to be true. As we all know, perfect girls don'...more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Sep 07 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat May 10 23:49:31 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 15 00:19:21 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Fri Feb 08 13:37:20 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 05 08:26:40 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Feb 14 20:48:41 -0800 2009 Sat Jul 19 12:15:08 -0700 2008 Sat Feb 14 20:48:41 -0800 2009 This is the story of Molly Gibson, a girl living with her widower father in the 1820s. Molly is completely satisfied with her life, but her father is worried about Molly being motherless, and so marries again. Soon Molly, her new mother an...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri Feb 15 14:53:18 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 15 14:59:42 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1991 Thu Dec 04 15:41:02 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 04 15:43:28 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 17:03:50 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 18:10:24 -0700 2009
If you've ever wondered how the Bennett sisters' daughters might have turned out, you may find this interesting. Although written in 1866, it is set 30 years earlier, in a time when Austen's universe of landed gentry was undergoing serious chal...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 15:53:33 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 16:19:48 -0700 2009
I hate to be the two millionth person to compare Gaskell to Austen, but so many people are familiar with Jane Austen's work that she has become a handy shorthand author for this type of writing. Readers w...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jun 25 15:11:40 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 15:25:22 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Nov 10 22:23:44 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 18 08:20:51 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Mar 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 17 12:30:34 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 16:29:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Jul 02 22:38:30 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 10 15:55:33 -0700 2009 Wives and Daughters! A terrific plot and fascinating characters. Gaskell really does a wonderful job of portraying life and love among the country folk in provincial England. There's a touch of mystery and villainy, and a good bit o...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Sep 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 14:54:51 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 20:21:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 07 00:40:04 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 23:03:29 -0700 2009 1 North and South (same author) from BBC and couldn't do anything else until I'd finished all four episodes. I read the book in the same obsessive way.

So I thought I would try another novel by Elizabeth Gaskell. Wives and Daughters doesn't flow as smoothly as Nor...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Mar 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Feb 24 19:46:50 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 15 13:51:27 -0700 2009
First, Elizabeth Gaskell is simply very, very funny. She inserts comedy into this novel as ofte...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 05:40:58 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 05:50:51 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 14:11:40 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 14:15:52 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 true false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 22 17:02:32 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 22 17:11:31 -0800 2009 3 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=383206