Novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published serially in the Cornhill Magazine (August 1864-January 1866) and then in book form in 1866; it 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 chronicles the maturation of Molly Gibson, a sincere young woman whose widowed father, the town doctor, marries Hyacinth Kirkpatrick, a charming but petty widow and former governess in the household of Lord Cumnor. Although Molly resents her stepmother, she befriends her stepsister Cynthia, who is secretly engaged to Lord Cumnor's land agent, Mr. Preston. Molly is warmly received at the home of Squire Hamley and his disabled wife. The Hamleys' two sons are Osborne, a clever but shallow man who marries unwisely and dies young, and Roger, an honest scientist who eventually marries Molly after being engaged to Cynthia, who ultimately weds a London barrister. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature --This text refers to the Paperback edition. 　　`A superb edition - Easson's notes are well done - genuinely helpful - and the supporting scholarly materials (introduction, textual variants, bibliography) are also valuable.' Dr. C. J. Walsh, St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill 　　`A useful introduction and notes. Will use it on a course concerned with the relationships between thought and history through an analysis of rural society' W. J. Gregory, Newcastle Polytechnic. --This text refers to the Paperback edition. 　　Product Description 　　This book comes with an introduction by Christine Baker. Focusing on two families, the Gibsons and the Hamleys, this novel describes the habits, loyalties, prejudices, petty snobberies, rumours and adjustments of a whole countryside hierarchy. 　　作者简介： 　　Elizabeth Gaskell was born in London in 1810 but spent most of her life in Cheshire, Stratford-upon-Avon. She married the Reverend William Gaskell and had four daughters by him. She worked among the poor, travelled frequently and wrote for Dickens'smagazine, Household Words. Elizabeth Gaskell was friends with Charlotte Bronte and consequently went on to write her biography. Pam Norris is Reader in Literature at Liverpool John Mooores University --This text refers to the Paperback edition.