Wives and Daughters (Everyman's Library)

by ElizabethGaskell (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2000

  $35.64

  Molly seems fated to suffer, firstly from her father's ill-conceived remarriage, and then from seeing her friend Roger Hamley infatuated with Molly's stepsister Cynthia. Everyone relies on Molly, but when will she have a fulfilling life of her own? This study edition contains commentary.

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $3.47

• New

  Paperback
  1999

  $7.52

  With an Introduction and Notes by Dinny Thorold, University of Westminster Gaskell's last novel, widely considered her masterpiece, follows the fortunes of two families in nineteenth century rural England. At its core are family relationships - father, daughter and step-mother, father and sons, father and step-daughter - all tested and strained by the romantic entanglements that ensue. Despite its underlying seriousness, the prevailing tone is one of comedy. Gaskell vividly portrays the world of the late 1820s and the forces of change within it, and her vision is always humane and progressive. The story is full of acute observation and sympathetic character-study: the feudal squire clinging to old values, his naturalist son welcoming the new world of science, the local doctor and his scheming second wife, the two girls brought together by their parent's marriage...