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Home , Elizabeth Gaskell, Ruth (novel), Wives and Daughters

ELIZABETH GASKELL

COMPLETE CLASSICS Wives and UNABRIDGED Daughters Read by Patience Tomlinson

When her father remarries, the honest, innocent Molly Gibson suddenly finds herself with a new stepsister, Cynthia, who is beautiful, worldly and impetuous. This would be more than enough to deal with, but the new wife is the deeply snobbish (and darkly secretive) Hyacinth. Thwarted love, scheming ambition and small-town gossip underlie the warmth, irony and brilliant social observation which link the relationships and the inevitable conflicts as profound change comes to rural England. The most mature and rewarding of her novels, places in the first rank of English authors.

Patience Tomlinson has appeared extensively in theatre and radio in the UK. She has worked for the Royal National Theatre and the Young Vic, and was twice a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company. She has made over 1,500 broadcasts, including stories, books, radio plays and poetry. For Naxos Total running time: 27:34:00 • 22 CDs AudioBooks, she has played the part of Emilia in Othello. View our catalogue online at n-ab.com/cat

= Downloads (M4B chapters or MP3 files) = CDs (disc–track)

1 1-1 CHAPTER 1: THE DAWN OF A GALA… 5:35 25 2-9 ‘To be sure. Come in, Mr Coxe’ 5:19 2 1-2 This was no unusual instance… 5:40 26 2-10 ‘Would it tend to cure your – well! passion…’ 5:07 3 1-3 For the first time in her life, Molly Gibson… 5:39 27 2-11 ‘I only wish Osborne and Roger…’ 5:25 4 1-4 ‘We shall go back to town on Friday the 18th,’… 5:39 28 2-12 ‘Don’t you like to go? Would you rather not?’ 5:54 5 1-5 CHAPTER 2: A NOVICE AMONGST… 4:47 29 2-13 CHAPTER 6: A VISIT TO THE HAMLEYS 4:53 6 1-6 She turned hastily round not to lose another… 4:24 30 2-14 She rose languidly, and wrapping her light… 3:43 7 1-7 There was some bread, and some cold chicken… 5:34 31 2-15 So she began. Molly was not so much… 4:14 8 1-8 The housemaids came in to arrange the room. 5:42 32 2-16 Molly tried to find out in the picture… 4:29 9 1-9 Molly was an obliging girl, and fond of children… 5:00 33 3-1 The squire had hitherto been too busy to talk… 5:12 10 1-10 There was an implied blame running through… 3:36 34 3-2 Molly looked out of her chamber window… 5:23 11 1-11 ‘You must go and wish Lady Cumnor…’ 4:18 35 3-3 She dropped her voice very soft and low... 3:34 12 1-12 Once out into the park Molly struck her pony… 4:51 36 3-4 ‘Mr Osborne Hamley is very clever, is he not?’ 3:29 13 1-13 CHAPTER 3: MOLLY GIBSON’S CHILDHOOD 4:23 37 3-5 CHAPTER 7: FORESHADOWS OF LOVE PERILS 5:23 14 1-14 The popularity of this world is as transient… 3:47 38 3-6 ‘I guess your request. I make it before you do...’ 3:57 15 1-15 Several years before the opening of this story… 4:54 39 3-7 ‘She’s a good girl,’ said her father… 4:23 16 1-16 Miss Eyre listened in silence, perplexed... 5:13 40 3-8 All that afternoon the squire tried to steer… 4:00 17 2-1 CHAPTER 4: MR GIBSON’S NEIGHBOURS 4:48 41 3-9 CHAPTER 8: DRIFTING INTO DANGER 5:06 18 2-2 But somehow things had changed… 5:02 42 3-10 And this time she had nearly finished learning… 4:57 19 2-3 ‘Use my purse as freely as if it was your own…’ 5:19 43 3-11 He was a tall powerfully-made young man… 5:04 20 2-4 He had married a delicate fine London lady… 5:04 44 3-12 After dinner, too, the gentlemen lingered… 5:27 21 2-5 She had not been able for many years… 4:50 45 3-13 ‘Thursday, the 19th, Harriet,’ said Lady Cumnor… 4:19 22 2-6 Major Coxe was at some unpronounceable… 4:45 46 3-14 ‘Do you think what Harriet says is true, Mary?’ 4:24 23 2-7 CHAPTER 5: CALF-LOVE 4:33 47 3-15 ‘She is at school at Boulogne, I know...’ 4:47 24 2-8 After a little more consideration… 4:37 48 3-16 CHAPTER 9: THE WIDOWER AND THE WIDOW 3:18 49 3-17 It was a very pleasant change... 3:50 110 7-12 She settled herself to her work again… 4:28 50 4-1 A disturbance to the pleasant, even course... 4:55 111 7-13 Molly went into her own room… 4:45 51 4-2 Mr Gibson had been far too busy… 5:09 112 7-14 Day after day the course of these small frivolities… 4:34 52 4-3 Ashcombe was a larger estate than that… 4:36 113 7-15 ‘I was a trouble, I daresay.’ 3:20 53 4-4 CHAPTER 10: A CRISIS 5:23 114 7-16 Cynthia might well say she did not consider… 4:35 54 4-5 ‘Could you love her as your daughter?’ 5:28 115 8-1 Cynthia herself appeared extremely indifferent… 1:40 55 4-6 They were neither of them quite as desirous... 4:53 116 8-2 CHAPTER 20: MRS GIBSON’S VISITORS 5:45 56 4-7 Mr Gibson turned a little paler… 4:38 117 8-3 Just at this moment, Molly heard… 5:45 57 4-8 Out of the bitterness of her heart she spoke… 4:40 118 8-4 ‘I believe in senior wranglers,’ said Cynthia... 5:18 58 4-9 She did not see Roger Hamley returning … 5:28 119 8-5 They were talking of France. 5:06 59 4-10 She did not take her eyes away from his… 5:40 120 8-6 CHAPTER 21: THE HALF-SISTERS 5:51 60 4-11 ‘You will have thought me hard,’… 4:22 121 8-7 ‘Ah, Roger!’ he said one day. 5:35 61 4-12 Molly was very near crying again. 4:58 122 8-8 Mrs Gibson took up arms… 5:18 62 4-13 CHAPTER 11: MAKING FRIENDSHIP 4:45 123 8-9 Molly caught a few words occasionally… 5:43 63 4-14 ‘Because it isn’t,’ said she, daring all. 5:28 124 8-10 He made a face of dismay, and then went off… 5:45 64 4-15 ‘What eyes! So like your dear father’s!’ 3:52 125 8-11 ‘I’m very glad I yawned in his face,’… 5:40 65 4-16 ‘Thank you, my own love.’ 4:13 126 8-12 CHAPTER 22: THE OLD SQUIRE’S TROUBLES 5:15 66 5-1 Molly followed Mrs Kirkpatrick… 4:44 127 8-13 The remarks had come round... 5:13 67 5-2 Mrs Kirkpatrick fondled the hand… 5:16 128 8-14 ‘You see, all you public schoolboys...’ 3:23 68 5-3 An old rhyme Molly had heard Betty use… 5:02 129 8-15 About five minutes elapsed… 4:51 69 5-4 ‘Thank you,’ said she, her lips trembling… 3:15 130 9-1 Osborne was strongly tempted to get up… 4:55 70 5-5 And the tête-à-tête was merged in a trio. 2:53 131 9-2 ‘I thought master wasn’t justly himself…’ 4:21 71 5-6 CHAPTER 12: PREPARING FOR THE WEDDING 4:06 132 9-3 CHAPTER 23: OSBORNE HAMLEY REVIEWS… 4:59 72 5-7 But Mr Gibson, economical as he was… 5:27 133 9-4 Then he bethought him of his poems… 4:59 73 5-8 Her preparations were thus… 4:05 134 9-5 When Roger came home… 4:13 74 5-9 Mr Gibson winced. Jeanie was his first love… 3:38 135 9-6 As yet, Roger had never seen his brother’s wife… 3:32 75 5-10 ‘Nonsense, sister,’ said Miss Browning. 3:48 136 9-7 ‘Not he,’ said the squire, taking the pipe out… 3:50 76 5-11 CHAPTER 13: MOLLY GIBSON’S NEW FRIENDS 5:25 137 9-8 CHAPTER 24: MRS GIBSON’S LITTLE DINNER 4:56 77 5-12 ‘You seem to have seen a great deal…’ 5:16 138 9-9 ‘How could you talk such nonsense, Cynthia?’ 5:15 78 5-13 The next day Molly went with Miss Browning… 5:46 139 9-10 Osborne had instinctively gone to stand… 5:36 79 5-14 Mr Gibson and Molly drove over to Ashcombe… 5:58 140 9-11 CHAPTER 25: HOLLINGFORD IN A BUSTLE 5:06 80 5-15 Then they went in to dinner. 5:14 141 9-12 Lady Harriet came to call on her old governess… 5:22 81 5-16 CHAPTER 14: MOLLY FINDS HERSELF PATRONIZED 3:10 142 9-13 Off went Mrs Gibson rather unwillingly… 5:25 82 5-17 Before Molly could shape her next question… 4:38 143 9-14 Cynthia took the utmost pains in dressing Molly… 5:15 83 6-1 Mr Preston came into the room just at this time… 5:43 144 9-15 CHAPTER 26: A CHARITY BALL 4:24 84 6-2 When he had left the room… 5:18 145 9-16 Probably Mr Roscoe would have felt more… 5:48 85 6-3 ‘I’ve brought you the wasps’-nest I promised…’ 5:14 146 10-1 Just at this moment the band… 4:50 86 6-4 He looked round the table as he sate down. 4:43 147 10-2 Mr Preston made no reply. 5:05 87 6-5 ‘Oh, Molly! I thought you’d never come back…’ 5:00 148 10-3 ‘I should have felt honoured if you had accepted…’ 5:23 88 6-6 CHAPTER 15: THE NEW MAMMA 5:28 149 10-4 Lady Harriet, who was rather different… 5:18 89 6-7 Molly bit her lips to prevent herself… 5:17 150 10-5 ‘I don’t know about popularity or votes,’… 5:18 90 6-8 One day he said to Molly, ‘I wish you’d ask…’ 5:05 151 10-6 ‘Nonsense; it would grieve papa...’ 3:44 91 6-9 ‘Don’t get any dainties for me, my dear…’ 4:11 152 10-7 This piece of news was of great interest to Molly... 4:05 92 6-10 CHAPTER 16: THE BRIDE AT HOME 5:29 153 10-8 CHAPTER 27: FATHER AND SONS 5:11 93 6-11 After they were gone, Mrs Gibson began... 4:55 154 10-9 M. Geoffroi St H – was in England now… 4:49 94 6-12 All this time the family at the Towers … 3:32 155 10-10 ‘How go the poems, old fellow?’ 4:08 95 6-13 Just then Squire Hamley came in. 4:40 156 10-11 All these prejudices were strengthened by his grief. 4:37 96 6-14 The squire was put out… 4:36 157 10-12 CHAPTER 28: RIVALRY 4:55 97 6-15 CHAPTER 17: TROUBLE AT HAMLEY HALL 4:13 158 10-13 ‘I should like it very much,’ said Osborne… 4:12 98 6-16 That sore had not yet healed over… 4:00 159 10-14 But Cynthia had come across too many… 4:37 99 7-1 ‘Don’t you know, at all, how the money has gone?’ 5:47 160 10-15 Now the first person out of the house… 3:25 100 7-2 Osborne’s name was never mentioned… 4:45 161 10-16 For some reason or other… 4:29 101 7-3 Molly dreaded the squire’s anger… 4:55 162 11-1 ‘Mr Roger Hamley,’ was announced. 4:31 102 7-4 It is not to be supposed that Molly had remained… 5:34 163 11-2 ‘Ah! London is the true place…’ 5:16 103 7-5 CHAPTER 18: MR OSBORNE’S SECRET 5:17 164 11-3 CHAPTER 29: BUSH-FIGHTING 4:33 104 7-6 ‘I don’t believe my father could raise the money…’ 5:08 165 11-4 And now both Osborne and Roger had left... 5:31 105 7-7 So Molly hung about the house… 5:53 166 11-5 ‘May I ask where you do spend your time…?’ 5:06 106 7-8 After a while he said... 5:22 167 11-6 Then there was lunch, when everyone… 4:52 107 7-9 She mounted on the ladder… 5:23 168 11-7 ‘Why?’ said Osborne, roused to a little curiosity… 5:10 108 7-10 ‘The drawing-room must be refurnished…’ 4:19 169 11-8 ‘Nonsense! I wish you wouldn’t talk so, Cynthia!’ 4:41 109 7-11 CHAPTER 19: CYNTHIA’S ARRIVAL 4:47 170 11-9 But she felt how different Roger’s relation… 4:18 171 11-10 CHAPTER 30: OLD WAYS AND NEW WAYS 4:45 232 15-9 She knew that Cynthia withheld from her… 5:28 172 11-11 ‘But I’m a deal nearer Heaven to-day, I am.’ 5:08 233 15-10 ‘I can’t understand you, Cynthia,’ she said… 4:14 173 11-12 In those days people used to speak… 5:37 234 15-11 ‘As far as I can judge of London,’… 4:48 174 11-13 ‘Mr Preston, I can hardly understand…’ 5:35 235 15-12 ‘I shall not stand on warning you, Molly.’ 5:56 175 11-14 CHAPTER 31: A PASSIVE COQUETTE 5:36 236 15-13 CHAPTER 42: THE STORM BURSTS 4:31 176 11-15 In the first instance… 5:04 237 15-14 So she went up to the top of the hill… 4:35 177 12-1 Molly was dejected, she knew not why. 4:21 238 15-15 ‘Cynthia,’ said he, suddenly changing his tone… 3:27 178 12-2 It may be all very pleasant… 3:40 239 15-16 ‘I am quite puzzled by you both,’ said Molly. 2:58 179 12-3 The squire dwelt so much upon... 3:12 240 15-17 ‘You do not call it love…’ 3:33 180 12-4 CHAPTER 32: COMING EVENTS 5:27 241 16-1 When she went into the drawing-room… 4:01 181 12-5 ‘You must be married again,’ said Roger… 4:11 242 16-2 CHAPTER 43: CYNTHIA’S CONFESSION 4:26 182 12-6 So runs the round of life from day to day. 4:42 243 16-3 Then she paused, and sate still for a minute… 4:51 183 12-7 ‘Lady Harriet is coming here this morning...’ 4:30 244 16-4 He had twenty pounds in his pocket… 5:00 184 12-8 Lady Harriet was sorry to miss Molly… 5:08 245 16-5 ‘…I cannot tell you all the ins and outs…’ 3:40 185 12-9 ‘Lady Harriet! I think you might have known…’ 4:01 246 16-6 ‘Oh, at first he pretended not to believe…’ 4:00 186 12-10 ‘It seems to me a very laudable and useful…’ 3:04 247 16-7 Cynthia began to cry, out of weariness of body... 3:46 187 12-11 Molly went the long walk to the Holly Farm… 3:17 248 16-8 CHAPTER 44: MOLLY GIBSON TO THE RESCUE 5:09 188 12-12 CHAPTER 33: BRIGHTENING PROSPECTS 4:55 249 16-9 It did strike Molly that Cynthia… 4:49 189 12-13 It was a manly, feeling, sensible letter… 4:40 250 16-10 ‘You should not speak so…’ 5:21 190 12-14 ‘Come, squire, I must not hear anything…’ 4:28 251 16-11 ‘You are very simple, Miss Gibson,’ said he… 4:46 191 12-15 It was all very fine giving the squire… 3:52 252 16-12 Cynthia was on the watch for her return… 4:03 192 12-16 CHAPTER 34: A LOVER’S MISTAKE 4:15 253 16-13 CHAPTER 45: CONFIDENCES 4:37 193 12-17 ‘I have been watching for you, dear...’ 4:16 254 16-14 She was startled from her meditations… 4:56 194 12-18 With a gulp and a fit of resolution… 4:08 255 16-15 ‘You and I must go on the next journey…’ 3:50 195 13-1 The little pendule on the chimney-piece... 5:36 256 16-16 ‘But there is something between Cynthia…’ 4:29 196 13-2 ‘Why, Molly!’ said Cynthia… 4:55 257 16-17 ‘I hope you did not want to see him…?’ 5:23 197 13-3 CHAPTER 35: THE MOTHER’S MANOEUVRE 5:30 258 17-1 CHAPTER 46: HOLLINGFORD GOSSIPS 5:05 198 13-4 She looked as if she was going to cry again… 4:49 259 17-2 Molly went upstairs to get ready… 4:37 199 13-5 ‘Don’t you know that all professional…?’ 5:35 260 17-3 All through the evening Molly’s thoughts… 4:14 200 13-6 ‘Shall I tell you what I should do?’ 5:13 261 17-4 ‘I’m sure I don’t want to hear of clandestine…’ 4:07 201 13-7 Cynthia looked extremely annoyed. 5:03 262 17-5 ‘Why, who told you?’ said Mrs Goodenough… 4:38 202 13-8 ‘No!’ he said at last, with a sigh. 4:52 263 17-6 CHAPTER 47: SCANDAL AND ITS VICTIMS 5:45 203 13-9 Mr Gibson’s face relaxed now… 5:02 264 17-7 The operation on Lady Cumnor… 5:02 204 13-10 CHAPTER 36: DOMESTIC DIPLOMACY 5:24 265 17-8 For a good while the Miss Brownings… 5:03 205 13-11 ‘Well, then, you won’t go!’ said Mr Gibson… 4:27 266 17-9 Miss Browning’s distress was overcoming… 4:11 206 13-12 ‘Do you think she’s worthy of him?’ 5:30 267 17-10 ‘Well!’ she said at length, rising up… 4:15 207 13-13 CHAPTER 37: A FLUKE, AND WHAT CAME OF IT 6:03 268 17-11 ‘Go on, can’t you?’ said he… 4:40 208 13-14 After a fortnight’s time… 5:51 269 17-12 CHAPTER 48: AN INNOCENT CULPRIT 5:14 209 14-1 Mr Gibson went upstairs to the drawing-room… 5:31 270 17-13 He could not help relenting at her words… 4:29 210 14-2 ‘“Not guilty, but we recommend the prisoner...”’ 5:13 271 17-14 It was a great relief to Mr Gibson… 4:33 211 14-3 But Cynthia, instead of replying to this question… 3:30 272 17-15 ‘I think the world would get on tolerably well…’ 4:44 212 14-4 For a long time Molly had been surprised… 4:40 273 17-16 Then Molly knew that her stepmother… 4:38 213 14-5 Then Cynthia’s ways and manners about Roger… 5:19 274 18-1 CHAPTER 49: MOLLY GIBSON FINDS A CHAMPION 4:54 214 14-6 CHAPTER 38: MR KIRKPATRICK, Q.C. 4:55 275 18-2 ‘Well, I think the least you can do…’ 4:26 215 14-7 ‘Dear-ah-me!’ said the old lady… 5:11 276 18-3 The next day Lady Harriet rode over… 4:52 216 14-8 ‘She was so sorry for what she’d done…’ 4:51 277 18-4 Lady Harriet, meanwhile, was riding homewards… 4:00 217 14-9 When the two gentlemen met... 3:51 278 18-5 ‘No, my lord. I have no intentions…’ 4:32 218 14-10 ‘If you want us to sympathize with you…’ 3:34 279 18-6 CHAPTER 50: CYNTHIA AT BAY 5:12 219 14-11 ‘But then she must have got the money…’ 3:47 280 18-7 ‘Refused him – and you never told me…’ 5:15 220 14-12 CHAPTER 39: SECRET THOUGHTS OOZE OUT 5:26 281 18-8 The second and the last day of her stay… 4:47 221 14-13 ‘Ah,’ said Mrs Gibson… 6:46 282 18-9 Once in her own room, Lady Harriet… 5:12 222 14-14 To return to the squire. Occupied as he now was… 5:03 283 18-10 ‘Well! I don’t like it, at any rate.’ 5:22 223 14-15 ‘Osborne! Do you know anything about this...?’ 5:40 284 18-11 Mrs Gibson, too, had been awed into silence… 5:38 224 15-1 But after his father had left the room… 3:32 285 18-12 CHAPTER 51: ‘TROUBLES NEVER COME ALONE’ 4:36 225 15-2 And then she plunged into the tête-à-tête… 3:17 286 18-13 ‘And now, Mr Gibson…’ 5:23 226 15-3 CHAPTER 40: MOLLY GIBSON BREATHES FREELY 5:22 287 18-14 ‘Molly, Roger will marry you!’ 4:55 227 15-4 In general, it is the people who are left behind… 4:32 288 18-15 So down into the cluster of collected women… 3:52 228 15-5 Mrs Gibson wrote twice during her week’s… 4:54 289 18-16 After a moment’s pause… 4:52 229 15-6 Molly did not answer all at once. 5:44 290 19-1 CHAPTER 52: SQUIRE HAMLEY’S SORROW 5:02 230 15-7 CHAPTER 41: GATHERING CLOUDS 5:07 291 19-2 Forgetting, apparently, what time of night… 4:44 231 15-8 Whenever anything had gone wrong… 4:59 292 19-3 ‘I do try to say, God’s will be done, sir,’… 5:32 293 19-4 ‘Osborne evidently had bound him down…’ 4:17 321 21-2 Had Roger indeed been asked to the Towers… 5:03 294 19-5 Little by little he led the squire… 5:44 322 21-3 Molly was sitting in the drawing-room… 5:17 295 19-6 Molly had no doubt that Osborne… 4:29 323 21-4 Molly’s heart sank within her at the prospect. 3:20 296 19-7 But Molly kept her pleading eyes fixed on Cynthia. 3:57 324 21-5 So Molly was driven off in state the next day… 3:45 297 19-8 CHAPTER 53: UNLOOKED-FOR ARRIVALS 4:37 325 21-6 Molly was only too glad to allow Lady Harriet… 4:55 298 19-9 ‘Give it me,’ said the squire, his voice breaking… 5:13 326 21-7 CHAPTER 58: REVIVING HOPES… 5:10 299 19-10 ‘So you always say, daughter. Time will show.’ 5:17 327 21-8 On Saturday they were more fortunate… 4:21 300 19-11 There was a ‘lingerie’ shop… 4:08 328 21-9 His tone of voice was changed in speaking of her… 5:25 301 19-12 Robinson had been aware … 4:46 329 21-10 Lord Hollingford remembered his sister’s words… 3:32 302 19-13 So Molly and the woman lifted her up… 3:04 330 21-11 It was about six weeks since Cynthia’s … 4:19 303 19-14 By-and-by the squire said in a whisper… 3:23 331 21-12 Now, as Mrs Gibson was not quite sure… 3:48 304 19-15 CHAPTER 54: MOLLY GIBSON’S WORTH… 5:27 332 22-1 CHAPTER 59: MOLLY GIBSON AT HAMLEY HALL 5:26 305 19-16 Worn out by the contending emotions… 4:10 333 22-2 It was nearly lunch-time… 5:04 306 19-17 It was well that Molly was such a favourite… 4:51 334 22-3 Molly made a point of turning the conversation… 5:06 307 20-1 From time to time her father rode up… 4:42 335 22-4 ‘I don’t even call her pretty,’ said the squire… 4:29 308 20-2 ‘Really, Clare, I spend so much time in your…’ 5:11 336 22-5 Roger came in from his walk… 5:44 309 20-3 ‘I am afraid she has been very ill?’ asked Cynthia. 5:19 337 22-6 CHAPTER 60: ROGER HAMLEY’S CONFESSION 4:35 310 20-4 CHAPTER 55: AN ABSENT LOVER RETURNS 4:22 338 22-7 Then there was a silence – for a while. 5:05 311 20-5 ‘If a young man of twenty-four…’ 5:09 339 22-8 Just then they heard Mr Gibson’s step downstairs. 3:05 312 20-6 Mrs Gibson could hardly wait… 5:03 340 22-9 One evening after dinner… 5:05 313 20-7 The little trap thus set for news… 4:28 341 22-10 ‘My dear boy!’ said Mr Gibson… 5:48 314 20-8 All the rest of the day she alluded to Cynthia… 5:22 342 22-11 Mr Gibson gave Roger’s message to his wife… 4:16 315 20-9 CHAPTER 56: ‘OFF WITH THE OLD LOVE…’ 5:20 343 22-12 When she came to a sense of the present… 3:18 316 20-10 Someone was thinking about her at the… 4:36 344 22-13 ‘Oh, ho! So that’s your reason, is it, my dear.’ 4:04 317 20-11 And Roger ran downstairs at full speed… 4:14 345 22-14 Concluding remarks by the Editor... 5:58 318 20-12 In the evening Mr Henderson came. 4:53 346 22-15 It was so at all times… 3:33 319 20-13 Mr and Mrs Kirkpatrick sent all manner… 2:59 347 22-16 Viewed in this light, Cynthia is a more important… 4:07 320 21-1 CHAPTER 57: BRIDAL VISITS AND ADIEUX 5:01

ELIZABETH GASKELL (1810–1865) Wives and Daughters

Elizabeth Gaskell was an optimist. She believed that applying so Mrs Gaskell (she preferred the married title once she had failed to Christian morality would lead to a general betterment of society; remain anonymous) could speak with profound honesty about quiet she believed in the co-operative value of communities; also that rural villages and seething city centres – she knew them both. progress was not only inevitable, it was necessary. The daughter of She was born in London, but her mother died when she was just a Unitarian minister, she married one, too, but managed to turn her over a year old, and she was sent to her Aunt Lumb in Knutsford, bright-sided religious conviction into novels and stories of depth and outside . From here sprang much of her inspiration, in character, resisting the urge to moralise just as much as she resisted more than one sense. Thanks to her devoted and generous aunt, sentimentality or melodrama (though there were very occasional Elizabeth was educated, in topics ranging from Latin to dancing, lapses). Instead, she was inquisitive, energetic, independent, and this itself was slightly unusual (in other than socially forward- strong and vivacious – addressing the urgent social matters of thinking dissenting sects such as the Unitarians). Furthermore, industrialisation and its impact with imagination and bravery. Almost Knutsford was the small, rural community Elizabeth was to chronicle inevitably, her calls for greater equality meant that she was called with such warmth and perception in . Being only a few a communist, and some of her books were seen as immoral on miles from Manchester, then becoming a massive urban and account of her examination of the problems facing ‘fallen’ women. industrial centre, she was also very aware of the profound changes In a telling example of the tension between the conventions she being wrought in England; she was soon to get to know them a upheld as a wife and mother and the taboos she addressed as a good deal better, and to reflect them in her later novels. writer, Elizabeth Gaskell prohibited her own daughters from reading Her brother was lost at sea in 1828, and this affected her her novel precisely because it tackled such a fraught issue. deeply, since her father had remarried, and she is likely to have felt Two things set Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell apart from the somewhat isolated and alone. This must have increased when it notional clergyman’s wife who takes to writing. One is that her became obvious that she and her new stepmother did not get on observation and humility are on a par with ’s, allowing at all well; indeed the stepmother may have been the model – in her a remarkable insight into character and motive. The other is her part at least – for the second Mrs Gibson in Wives and Daughters. direct experience of the matters she describes. Just as Dickens was Here again, Elizabeth Gaskell took what she knew at a personal able to imbue his London with a genuine sense of lived experience, level and used her transformative intelligence to create profound and engrossing fiction. Before that, however, she underwent a with the significantly less than ‘ideal’ alternatives (Cynthia and her transformation of sorts herself: from Elizabeth Stevenson to Mrs mother). While this provides plenty of genuine insight into different ; from dissenter’s daughter to Minister’s helpmeet; characters, and plenty of comedy too, it also addresses, and very and from woman to mother. These duties and obligations filled critically, the social role of women in a male-dominated society. her life as much as they changed it. She moved from Knutsford Molly does try to control her temper, to overlook slights and think of to Manchester and saw at close quarters the appalling conditions others’ needs – but she also learns to recognise when one must take of the workers, the utter despoliation of individuals under the a stand, and that having an independent voice is not a sin. crushing application of a particular kind of morality, and the physical In Wives and Daughters, all Mrs Gaskell’s experiences and damage done to people and the landscape by heavy industry. She developed skills are brought together in her most mature work. and William were active campaigners for social improvement, and She is able to bring a small community to vivid life; she develops supported each other’s various endeavours. characters that are complex and fulfilling; she tells a story of It was not until some 15 years after her marriage that she started changing passions with intelligence; and she develops themes writing. Their son had died at the age of nine months, and William that counter each other and are reflected in the characters and the suggested that Elizabeth write to help in coping with her grief. The intertwining events of the wider story. And, as always, much of result was , which was an immediate and controversial what she placed in the novel was taken from her own experience success. Elizabeth quickly became part of the literary world, and was and transformed into something of broader and more imaginative chosen by Dickens to contribute to his magazine ; import. She had the synopsis ready before the serialisation began over the following 18 years she produced novels, novellas, travel (in between 1864 and 1866), but she died pieces, a landmark biography of her friend Charlotte Brontë, and suddenly while viewing a house she had bought for her husband’s occasional articles ranging in style from the Gothic to the delicately retirement. The story was unfinished, with one episode remaining; intimate. however, she had intimated to the editor () Her earlier works have been broadly classified as novels of social what she intended, so he completed it. problems, and that has a deal of truth to it – her fearless, intelligent Mrs Gaskell’s books showed the kind of virtuous outcome she knowledge and understanding of those issues was what gave her believed could be achieved with people and society, demonstrating the legitimacy to write them, and was what caused such a rumpus as they did the value of effort allied to a natural capacity. Once her when she did. But Cranford (immediately and still hugely popular) own gift for writing was discovered she developed and nurtured illustrated the depth of her humanity, her integrity and the breadth it using the natural resources of her talent and the lessons of her of range she possessed as an author; and all her works were alive experience. Had she had the kind of vanity to consider such a to the domestic and personal trials of womanhood as well as to the thing, it might have pleased her that her career justified her general broader matters of society. philosophical optimism. The two often came together, of course. In Molly, the heroine of Wives and Daughters, the Victorian ideal of the angelic female Notes by Roy McMillan – self-negating, always concerned for others – is placed in conflict

Total running time: 27:34:00 • 22 CDs

Produced and edited by Malcolm Blackmoor Recorded at Motivation Sound Studios, London p 2010 Naxos AudioBooks. Artwork c 2010 Naxos AudioBooks. Booklet and cover design: Hannah Whale, Fruition – Creative Concepts Cover picture: Comparing Dance Cards, © Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans; courtesy of Mary Evans Library ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORISED PUBLIC PERFORMANCE, BROADCASTING AND COPYING OF THIS RECORDING PROHIBITED.

CD catalogue no.: NA923012 Digital catalogue no.: NA923012D CD ISBN: 978-9-62634-230-5 Digital ISBN: 978-9-62954-943-5

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