Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell 
Wives and Daughters 

‘Wives and Daughters’ is a novel by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell first published serially in
The Cornhill Magazine (August 1864–January 1866) and then in book form in 1866. The novel was unfinished at the time of her death in November 1865. 

Known as her last, longest, and perhaps finest work, it concerns the interlocking fortunes of several families in the country town of Hollingford. 

‘Wives and Daughters’ is far more than a nostalgic evocation of village life, it is a fantastic ironic critique of mid-Victorian society.



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. When he remarries, a new step-sister enters Molly’s quiet life – lovable, but worldly and troubling, Cynthia. The narrative traces the development of the two girls into womanhood within the gossiping and watchful society of Hollingford.