Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

Title: Wives and Daughters

Author: Elizabeth Gaskell

Pages: 630

Finished: 3/14/17

First Sentence: To begin with the old rigmarole of childhood.

Summary: After a brief opening of an event in Molly Gibson's childhood, the novel begins with her at 17. Her widowed father, intercepting a love letter to her, sends Molly away to the Hamley estate as a companion to Mrs. Hamley while he figures out how to cool her lovers feelings. In the end, he decides to remarry. His new wife, a widower who also happened to be the governess at the Cumnor estate. The book then follows the families Gibson and Hamley as well as a bit of Cumnor and the gossip of the town Hollingford. 

Thoughts: First and foremost, I'm so glad I decided to forego my 100 page rule. The first chapter was interesting enough, but then there were quite a few chapters explaining the setting that I was rather bored by page 100. But I had seen the lovely BBC adaptation over a decade ago, so I decided to stick the story out. And I'm glad I did. 

I loved Molly. So good and steadfast, though I wonder how she managed all these ideals when her father was so often from home. I know Roger's speech to her when she found out her father was to remarry really struck her, but there was quite a lot of good in her before that. 

In general, I loved the characters. Not Mrs. Gibson so much - she was so selfish. Many have compared her to Mrs. Bennet, but I found Mrs. Gibson ever so much worse in my mind. She was more calculated with less ridiculousness than Mrs. Bennet ever was. 

I found Cynthia far less odious then I recall from the t.v. series. Of course, the series could have made her more selfish than the book, and in a way, she was very selfish. But she did like Molly and did try to be good to her. 

The one thing I wished for most is that Gaskell had lived just long enough to write that final chapter or two. I shall have to be content with the editor's write-up in the end.