Wives and Daughters By Elizabeth Gaskell

THis is the last novel by Mrs Gaskell, and her best. It covers the years not long after the Napoleonic wars, when there were massive social changes. It's set in a small country town, (based on Knutsford where Gaskell grew up). Molly Gibson lives with her widowed father, who is the local doctor. Dr Gibson is a Scot, and a clever man, whose practice ranges from Lord and Lady Cumnor, the aristocratic landlords of the area, down to the poor of the countryside. He is interested in science and is friendly with Lord Hollingford, Lord Cumnor's son, who is also fond of studying scientific questions... Molly is nearly 17 when her father finds that she has an admirer, one of his apprentices, Mr Coxe. He begins to worry about how to look after her, now that she is old enough to attract men. He tells off Mr Coxe. Then he sends Molly for a visit to the local squire, Mr Hamley, a good natured farming landlord who does not have much money. Mr Hamley is happily married, but his wife is lonely and in poor health so she is glad of Molly's company... The squire is not so keen. They have 2 sons who are at the age when they might fall in love with a girl. The 2 sons are Osborne, who is poetical and thought to be very clever, and Roger who is more interested in science and natural history. This interest is not so highly thought of, at the time. Mr Gibson decides to remarry, to provide Molly with someone to look after her and take her into local society. He looks around for a wife, but although he has a decent income, he is not considered the equal of the local gentry. When he looks around the local women, he knows that he has a choice between farmers' daughters who are not ladies, and landowners' daughters, who would not marry a mere country doctor. He meets Hyacinth Kirkpatrick, who has a small school, on the Cumnor estate. She is a widow, who used to be a governess to the Cumnor girls, and then left to get married. She is not well off, but is a lady. She seems quite suitable to marry a man of the professional classes. She has a daughter, Cynthia, who is at school in France, learning to be a governess. Hyacinth however is a silly selfish woman who does not care much for her only child. She is pleased to remarry, and not to have to work. Dr Gibson does not see her faults at first. He tells her that he will be glad to take Cynthia into his home, and she can live on the small income she inherited from her father. He does not want her to have to go out as a governess. Molly does not take to her new stepmother - she can see that the woman is silly and thoughtless and has little real feeling for anyone but herself. She is fonder of Mrs Hamley and visits her, as her health declines.