Wives and Daughters

Wives and Daughters is Elizabeth Gaskell’s unfinished novel about Molly Gibson’s growth within family and provincial society. Her father’s remarriage brings a stepmother and stepsister into a life whose familiar relationships must be reconsidered. The contrasting households of the Gibsons and Hamleys allow affection, ambition, scientific interests, and social rank to influence one another. Molly’s efforts to act fairly often require patience with incomplete knowledge. Gaskell died before completing the novel, but its sustained attention to conversation and everyday decisions gives a richly developed account of moral and emotional education.