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, Wives and Daughters places Elizabeth Gas.
12 If Roger Did Not Do Well at Cambridge It Was His Own Fault
13 Calf-Love
14 MR. Coxe Hung His Head a Little, and Meditated
15 A Visit to the Hamleys
16 Ah! But It Was Not a Lesson. I Remember the Painter
17 Molly Was So Deep in One of Sir Walter Scotts Novels
18 Foreshadows of Love Perils
19 So Mr. Gibson Rode Round to the Stables
20 Drifting Into Danger
- Disc 2 -
1 During This Absence of Mollys
2 The Widower and the Widow
3 But the First Day on Which Mr. Gibson Paid His Visit
4 A Crisis
5 It Was the Next Morning Before Mr. Gibson Arrived
6 For a Minute or Two He Thought It Would Be Kinder
7 To Their Surprise, Molly Came in, Trying Hard to Look As Usual
8 Making Friendship
9 It Is a Question Whether Mrs. Kirkpatrick or Molly Wished
10 Mrs. Kirkpatrick Led Her Into Lady Cumnors Presence
11 Molly Had Held Up All the Day Bravely
12 Preparing for the Wedding
13 Molly Gibsons New Friends
14 Mr. Preston Must Have Heard Her Step
15 Molly Finds Herself Patronised
16 I Used to Think I Managed Her
17 Then the Carriage Came Round
18 All the Gentlemen Were Gone
19 The New Mamma
- Disc 3 -
1 For Some Time the Murmurs and Grumblings
2 The Bride at Home
3 Squire Hamley Came in
4 Trouble at Hamley Hall
5 The Squire Asked Molly Every Day
6 Mr. Osbornes Secret
7 The Last Afternoon of Her Stay at the Hall Came
8 Cynthias Arrival
9 A Woman Will Have This Charm
10 Well, Then Mamma Had to Go Out As a Governess
11 Mrs. Gibsons Visitors
12 Molly Went Back to Her Seat By Cynthia
13 The Half-Sisters
14 We've Had Our Unexpected Visitor, Too, Said Mr. Gibson
15 Osborne Hamley Reviews His Position
16 Mrs. Gibsons Little Dinner
17 Ah, Mr. Gibson, I Have Found Out
18 Hollingford in a Bustle
19 The Afternoon of the Day on Which the Ball Was to Take Place
- Disc 4 -
1 A Charity Ball
2 Meanwhile Miss Piper and Miss Phoebe
3 Mr. Preston Was Looking Intently and Angrily
4 Lady Harriet, Spied the Gibson Party
5 Molly Felt Innocent Enough, and Made No Reply
6 She Put Her Arm in Her Brothers As She Spoke
7 Rivalry
8 Oh, But You Must Be with Us! We Must Wait
9 For Some Reason or Other, Unknown to the Gibsons
10 I Believe I Have Been Very Thoughtless
11 Bush-Fighting
12 Presently, Osborne Came Upstairs
13 Again Cynthia Was Lost in Thought
14 Old Ways and New Ways
15 Coming Events
16 Lady Harriet Was Sorry to Miss Molly
17 Cynthia Now Joined the Party, Pretty and Elegant
18 Brightening Prospects
- Disc 5 -
1 What's This I Hear About Roger? Said Mr. Gibson
2 I Wish I Could Tell His Mother, Said the Squire
3 A Lovers Mistake
4 Cynthia Did Not Seem Inclined to Repeat Her Saying
5 The Mothers Manoeuvre
6 I Knew, Said She Through Sobs and Tears
7 Has Mamma Told You? Said She
8 He's Not the Eldest Son, Continued the Squire
9 Your Molly Is One in a Thousand
10 MR. Kirkpatrick, Q.C
11 Molly Gibson Breathes Freely
12 You See a Great Deal of Mr. Preston, Don't You, Molly!
13 Gathering Clouds
14 I'm Afraid I'm Not As Much Struck By the Wonder of the Thing
15 The Storm Bursts
16 Molly Left the Path and Went Straight
17 I Am Quite Puzzled By You Both, Said Molly
18 Cynthias Confession
19 He Sate Down on the Table
- Disc 6 -
1 So Now You Understand It All, Molly
2 Molly Gibson to the Rescue
3 It Was a Cloudy Blustering Day
4 Does She Say That to You in Cold Blood?
5 Cynthia Was on the Watch for Her Return
6 Confidences
7 No One Here! What a Blessing!
8 Molly Thought for a Minute or Two
9 Molly Enjoyed Her House to Herself to the Full
10 Hollingford Gossips
11 Scandal and It's Victims
12 Molly Gibson Has Lost Her Character, Sister. That's It
13 An Innocent Culprit
14 You Say You Were Not Acting for Yourself
15 I Hate to Have You Mixed Up in Mysteries
16 Molly Gibson Finds a Champion
17 At Length He Burst in
18 Lady Harriet, Was Riding Homewards
- Disc 7 -
1 And He Rode Home, and Told His Wife
2 Cynthia at Bay
3 When She Looked Back Upon Her Visit
4 At Last She Said, Molly Knows It All
5 Troubles Never Come Alone
6 But Here You Are, Just in Such a Position Before Me, Cynthia!
7 She Laid Her Hand on the Hot Damp Skin of the Horses Shoulder
8 Squire Hamleys Sorrow
9 Heres Molly, Said Mr. Gibson, Choking a Little Himself
10 Some Months Ago Osborne Called
11 Someone Must Write to Mrs. Osborne Hamley
12 Unlooked-For Arrivals
13 The Writing This Letter Was Rather Difficult Work for Molly
14 Her Arms Relaxed, Her Figure Swayed
15 Molly Gibsons Worth Is Discovered
16 After This, Long Days Passed Over
17 When They Came Within Two Miles of Hollingford
18 Mollys Delight at Seeing Her Showed Itself
19 An Absent Lover Returns
- Disc 8 -
1 Molly Went on with Her Questions on Other Subjects
2 I Was So Sorry to Hear How Ill You Had Been!
3 Off with the Old Love, and on with the New
4 Now Roger Spoke to Molly - Spoke Hurriedly, Spoke Hoarsely
5 Bridal Visits and Adieux
6 The Squire? Asked Mrs. Gibson in Some Surprise
7 Molly Was Sitting in the Drawing-Room Pale and Trembling
8 When Molly Arrived at the Towers
9 Reviving Hopes and Brightening Prospects
10 Molly Stood Up
11 Molly Gibson at Hamley Hall
12 It So Happened That on Mollys Last Morning
13 Roger Hamleys Confession
14 One Evening After Dinner
15 My Dear Boy! Said Mr. Gibson
16 Mr. Gibson Gave Rogers Message to His Wife
17 Having Married Cynthia, As Her Mother Put It
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, Wives and Daughters places Elizabeth Gas.
