Wives and Daughters

Wives and Daughters is a novel by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, published serially from 1864 to 1866. Set in the 1830s, it follows Molly Gibson, the only daughter of a widowed doctor in a provincial English town. Notable for its use of dialect and exploration of social issues, the novel was left incomplete at Gaskell's death, with the final section completed by Frederick Greenwood. Gaskell is recognized as one of the foremost British novelists of the Victorian era.