![]() ![]() But what makes this one so special is that Elizabeth Gaskell gets us to spread our love evenly between so many different characters. It's essentially just the story of a blended family from the Victorian era. Wow, the events in the village of Hollingford have gripped my attention for the past few weeks, and I'm still trying to figure out why. This is my choice for the 'Classic by a Woman' category of the 2018 Back to the Classics Challenge. 'No nineteenth-century novel contains a more devastating rejection than this of the Victorian male assumption of moral authority', writes Pam Morris in her introduction to this new edition, in which she explores the novel's main themes – the role of women, Darwinism and the concept of Englishness – and its literary and social context. Wives and Daughters is far more than a nostalgic evocation of village life it offers an ironic critique of mid-Victorian society. The narrative traces the development of the two girls into womanhood within the gossiping and watchful society of Hollingford. When he remarries, a new step-sister enters Molly's quiet life – lovable, but worldly and troubling, Cynthia. Set in English society before the 1832 Reform Bill, Wives and Daughters centres on the story of youthful Molly Gibson, brought up from childhood by her father. ![]()
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