Wives and Daughters in Classics Without All the Class

Mar 31, 2010 SarahC rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: elizabeth-gaskell, fallreading2010

This novel achieves much and thoughts of it do not leave the mind quickly. Gaskell captures both the human experience and the beautiful settings of mid-19th-century English country life. You will be drawn into this world as she introduces the lives of the common folk of Hollingford and those who hold distinction either by title or by ancient stewardship of the land. Regardless of rank, Gaskell’s characters face essentially human situations.

Our heroine, young Molly Gibson, on the brink of adultho This novel achieves much and thoughts of it do not leave the mind quickly. Gaskell captures both the human experience and the beautiful settings of mid-19th-century English country life. You will be drawn into this world as she introduces the lives of the common folk of Hollingford and those who hold distinction either by title or by ancient stewardship of the land. Regardless of rank, Gaskell’s characters face essentially human situations.

Our heroine, young Molly Gibson, on the brink of adulthood, has quietly grown up with her father, the town physician. A little awkward and protected by her father, she is carefully embarking on life. She finds love and acceptance with a surrogate family, the Hamleys. At the same time, Molly’s father brings home a new wife -- a new mamma for Molly -- the lovely yet ambitious Hyacinth, former governess to the grand Cumnor family who rule the town. Hyacinth’s bold but neglected daughter Cynthia also becomes a part of the Gibson household. Meanwhile, the Hamleys, who grow so dear to Molly, face the illness of a devoted mother, the struggles of two brothers, and the constant desire of a father to maintain the centuries-old estate.

The beginning of the story feels like a fairy tale. Twelve-year-old Molly is whisked away by carriage, in the company of not-too-observant guardians, to the great house of the Cumnors, appropriately named The Towers. Here she experiences a day of grand entertainments but is accidentally left sleeping as the carriages ride away. She is imprisoned in a sense, as no one will help her leave or be convinced that her father will worry. Soon her father arrives to rescue her. The reader fears more adventures in wonderland as her story resumes when she is almost seventeen. This time she goes on her first “real visit,” a stay of several weeks at Hamley Hall. Thankfully, Molly finds a much different experience from her fearful stay at The Towers as she becomes somewhat adopted by the kind family, who long for a young girl about the place and appreciate Molly’s constancy and caring nature.

So wonderland dissolves and the concerns of everyday take its place. Molly is coming of age and much of the story tells of things hidden and misunderstood in her life and that of those around her. A sister of the heart to the Hamley sons, she protects their secret that will affect the path of both brothers’ lives. Molly also guards the hidden life of Cynthia, her sister by necessity, to insure hope for Cynthia’s future. Strengths, flaws, rediscovered relationships and discovered love are revealed in this “rich and rare” story, as labeled by Gaskell biographer Jenny Uglow.

The crafting of the story sets it apart from anything else I have read including other writing of Gaskell. She has a light touch and an absolute respect for how real life happens, preventing this from being a tale of drama and dysfunction. The people simply live, feel, make mistakes and endure sacrifices. I can’t improve upon what the editor remarked of her in the last original published Wives & Daughters installment in 1866 after Gaskell’s death, “She began by having the people of her story born in the usual way, and not built up like the Frankenstein monster..,” and therefore a very natural, pure story follows.

I greatly recommend this novel. ...more

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Sep 10, 2014 Ebster Davis rated it it was ok

This is one of those anne oakley of green gables books about a girl growing up who doesn't actually face many problems but the author still manges to nock up their wordcount because they have nothing better to do.

Molly is the main character and that's all I have to say about her.

Hyacynth is the overbearing, petty but not paticularly malicious stepmother.

There is a step sister and a dad who's a doctor.

I think the story was meant to showcase what life was like in the isolated communities of the ...more

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