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Wives and Daughters

by Elizabeth Gaskell

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Reading for the 6th time

read in September 2024

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Kayla said:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

" I know Cranford is the better-known, but if I could only pick one Gaskell book, it would definitely be this one!

Plot: Molly Gibson’s father’s apprentice decides to send her a love letter, awakening Mr. Gibson to the fact that Molly is getting to the I know Cranford is the better-known, but if I could only pick one Gaskell book, it would definitely be this one!

Plot: Molly Gibson’s father’s apprentice decides to send her a love letter, awakening Mr. Gibson to the fact that Molly is getting to the age of needing a chaperone and advisor in romantic matters. He sends her away to stay with friends at Hamley Hall while he tries to figure out what to do. By accident, he’s reunited with a patient of his at Cumnor Towers, and as she’s a widow, he up and marries her without knowing much about her! Molly hates the idea of sharing her father and doesn’t particularly care for his choice, but Roger Hamley encourages her to think of her father and try to make the best of it.

Mrs. Gibson doesn’t suit. She is silly, shallow, and false, always turning a situation to herself either as a victim or a heroine. Her daughter, Cynthia, is more to Molly’s liking. She is pretty and charming but mysterious; Roger Hamley falls for her almost immediately.

But Cynthia has a secret, and it doesn’t take long for her to draw Molly into disgrace by using her as a go-between with Mr. Preston, the predatory land manager who lured her into an engagement when she was 15 and friendless. Molly is able to get Cynthia’s letters back from Mr. Preston, but exaggerated rumors about her dealings with him abound as a result. While Cynthia escapes to London, Molly settles down to bear the whispers and shame that rightfully belong to Cynthia.

After Lady Harriet discovers the truth and clears Molly’s name, Cynthia is so chagrined by the loss of opinion she imagines in those she cares about that she breaks off the engagement with Roger…just as his father suffers under the loss of Osborne, the older brother. Molly proves her mettle by attending the squire at the Hall, especially when Osborne’s French-Catholic-servant wife shows up with their little boy.

But caring for everyone else’s needs tires Molly out, and she becomes dangerously ill. While Roger hurries home from Africa to settle his little nephew’s position as heir, Molly falls into illness, and Cynthia becomes engaged (for a third time) to a London acquaintance.

When Cynthia goes away to be married, Molly is invited to the Towers, where she’s reunited with Roger. He finally sees her worth, falling in love with the woman who has proven to be his truest friend. But he’s exposed to scarlet fever by his nephew at the Hall, and he can only tell Molly of his regard before he sets sail for Africa another 5 months.

Here, Mrs. Gaskell passed away, one chapter shy of finishing the story.

Characters: I love these people. I wish Molly was real; I would like a friend like her! She grows as a woman and a lover, but otherwise, her character development is more of a story of steadiness, not changeability, in the face of adversity. Gaskell has this extraordinary ability to paint an incredibly complex portrait of a character and then, with one swift stroke, lay bare the inner secret to all their motives, making them, after all, just like us.

Content: The squire uses some choice language, mainly the d-word. There’s plenty of loss, with Mrs. Hamley’s and Osborne’s
deaths described in some detail. There’s drinking and smoking, but rarely to excess. ...more "

progress:

(41%)
— May 25, 2026 05:07PM

Oct 31, 2025 04:01PM · see review