WIVES AND DAUGHTERS - Wordsworth

Wives and Daughters was unfinished at the time of Elizabeth Gaskell's death, but it is nevertheless her masterpiece. In a country town in the early 19th century, Molly Gibson moves from childhood to womanhood as a central player in a complex series of interwoven plots. Her adored father, her vain and vulgar step-mother her beautiful but amoral step-sister, Cynthia, Squire Hamley and his sons Osborne and Roger, Lord and Lady Cumnor and a host of minor characters people her world. The sphere of action is small, but the implications are wide and carry truths of universal significance. Gaskell blends acute psychological perception with gentle irony and a broad understanding of the forces of change a family saga and a vivid social history.