Wives and Daughters

I just wanted to give it 5 stars and be done with the review, but they require a description on Amazon...so I'll post my mom's secret chocolate chip cookie recipe here instead (not so secret anymore, is it, Mom!?):4 cubes butter, softened2 heaping cups dark brown sugar (packed, then heap that shiz)½ cups white sugar2 tablespoons vanilla1 ½ teaspoon salt1 ½ teaspoons baking soda3 eggs6 cups flour1 bag chocolate chips (semi-sweet or sweet)Mix BY HAND all ingredients, except flour and chips (mixing by hand makes them taste better, trust me).Then add flour and chips and stir BY HAND. Bake @ 350 for 9-11 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet. Enjoy the preciouses.Note: makes a buttload of cookies, so you might want to halve the recipe.

Wives and Daughters has been a wonderful read. Elizabeth Gaskell, the biographer and friend of Charlotte Bronte, wrote this novel over 150 years ago. Yet, it is a true testament to the study of human character.Molly Gibson, the doctor’s only daughter is thrown into a new home order when her father remarries and brings along her own teen daughter. The girls get along well but Molly closely observes Cynthia who is beautiful and enjoys the attention of many suitors. However, Cynthia is underhanded and always seems to be surrounded by secrets and mysteries. Molly is pulled in as a messenger on the mishaps and her reputation is almost at stake in the small town. This is an interesting comparison and contrast of the two girls as they make life choices.Molly strives to understand her new stepmother and sister and she pines for the days when it was simply, she and her father. But over time, Molly’s purity shines forth, her popularity increases, her station is elevated and it looks like she will end up with Roger Hamley, the man she has always understood and loved.Note: The author died before writing the ending, but much can be assumed from this memorable piece. As in life, there are no pat answers and as the saying goes, “Stories must end somewhere.”

Like all Victorian novels that began as magazine fiction, WIVES AND DAUGHTERS starts out slowly, introducing the large cast of characters, unraveling their duties and wonts, trading page-turner excitement for the drawn-out episodes that kept the monthly readers in high anticipation issue after issue for two years or more. Stick with it, and after a few hundred pages or so, the modern reader will become as enmeshed in the lives of Molly Gibson and Cynthia Kirkpatrick as she was in the lives of Downton Abbey's Matthew Crawley and Lady Mary Grantham.Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, referred to in her day as "Mrs. Gaskell," was a keen observer of human nature which, after all, hasn't changed much in the last century or two. Jealousy and pride are still the main villainous traits; sweetness and humility the heroic. Consequently, her writing radiates the empathy and compassion that drive her characters to behave like people everywhere. Despite the restrictions of the Victorian era, the human condition as captured by Mrs. Gaskell is timeless. Not a single character, no matter how minor, is superfluous, as each has his or her role to play, and each one plays it precisely, with no exaggeration or unnecessary sentimentality. We recognize these people as easily as if they existed today: "Doesn't Mrs. Gibson remind you of..." and so on.It works. And it's fun. And, as you will see, it definitely leaves you begging for more.

Gaskell's last novel is charmingly true to the conventions of its genre. That is, "It's the kind of thing you'd like if you liked that kind of thing." I do, and for me 19th century novels are escapism. I am always aware, though, of their whiteness and prejudices; their support and glamorization of the class system that is only tangentially critiqued; and the unapologetic insistence on a maidenly reputation as women's chief valuation. All that said, imagining oneself to be a pampered lady of leisure in a gorgeous, unspoiled countryside -- well, there are worse ways to spent your free time. And Gaskell is one of the best purveyors of that very old-school reading experience.

This is not a review of Wives and Daughters, but more a complaint at Wordsworth’s choice of cover illustration for the edition I was posted. It is not as advertised (should be a table containing various Victorian paraphernalia). Instead, I have three horrendous-looking women, part photo, part digital, clumsily stuck over a poorly rendered landscape. It looks like a Mills and Boon cover, which is an insult to this stunning classic.I don’t know what Wordsworth were thinking when they commissioned the illustrator, or what Amazon were thinking by selling this edition over the one advertised.I’ll be looking for a better copy and this one will be heading to a charity shop.

Having read Mary Barton and North and South I was quite prepared to enjoy Wives and Daughters, as Mrs G was clearly a gifted writer. But I did not expect to find possibly one of the very best English novels of the 18th century. And comparison with Austen, Collins, CD, Conrad and others is not excessive praise. The novel deals with a world similar to Austens with the same wit and sharp observation, and the authors humanity and tolerance shine through, more so and with more humour than, for example, in George Eliot. A delightful read, and although Victorian morality and ideas are certainly presented Mrs G has quite a modern opinion of them...

If you enjoy delineation of character, a good story,the heroic brought down to earth then this is a wonderful story. Mrs Gaskell is a genius at portraying drama and a portraying the normal everyday thought and life of men and women. There is a lot to be enjoyed in what is now a historical setting and the interesting set of characters used to play out a story which is by turns full of pathos, beauty and the humdrum.

This was so much better than anticipated, both for the clear picture given of life in the 1840s or so, and utterly involving in the fates of her characters, as they are well depicted. I got so anxious about their welfare, I had to peek at the last page.Another thing I loved was the author's psychological sensitivity and freedom from judgments - her characters are far from 'perfect' but she indicates this with such a brief event or conversation rather than long moralising paragraphs; and she also describes previous experiences of theirs so that the reader understands from what perspective they now see the world and make decisions.Have I missed the film or tv series made from it? I'd have thought it would be a terrific success if they could keep their hands off too much focus on costume, stop lingering on the pretty female faces forever, and the usual faults I find with tv!Interesting that the great dilemma faced by one of the major characters was blamed by society on the young woman herself, and not on the older man involved, other than that people just didn't like him for other aspects of his behaviour - today we would call what he had done much earlier, "grooming".A plea to the makers of Kindle: every time there was a Mr. or Mrs., a new paragraph ocurred, presumably because of the . There were other errors too which should not have happened - an e was occasionally replaced by a c, so that someone sat on a 'scat'. Who is asked to do this? Can't be English-speaking - but what a task for any poor creature who isn't.And once again, no list of chapters with descriptions of what occurs, at the beginning, so that once finished, the reader could return to any text more easily. Please do this!!!

Having not previously read any of this Authors books I was delighted to discover that it well deserves to be included among what I chose to call "The Classics", i.e. Dickens, Jane Austin,Tollope, etc.