Wives and Daughters

By: Elizabeth Gaskell

Narrated by: Prunella Scales

Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Exclusively from Audible

Molly Gibson, the only daughter of a widowed doctor in the small provincial town of Hollingford, lost her mother when she was a child. Her father remarries wanting to give Molly the woman's presence he feels she lacks. To Molly, any stepmother would have been a shock, but the new Mrs. Gibson is a self-absorbed, petty widow, and Molly's unhappiness is compounded by the realisation that her father has come to regret his second marriage.

Although Molly resents her stepmother, she befriends her new step-sister, Cynthia, who is loveable, but worldly and troubling. The audiobook chronicles their maturation into womanhood within the confines of the gossiping and watchful society of Hollingford.

As Molly matures and falls in love she learns to judge people for what they are, not what they seem. Through Molly, the social values and changes of early 19th-century England are brought to life in this timeless representation of human relationships. The audiobook is more than just a nostalgic story of village life, it offers an ironic critique of mid-Victorian society.

Known as her last, longest, and perhaps finest work, it was not quite complete when Gaskell died suddenly in 1865. The last section was written by Frederick Greenwood.

Narrator Biography

Prunella Scales is a classically trained stage actress but is best known for her role as Sybil Fawlty in the BBC comedy Fawlty Towers (1975-1979) and for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in A Question of Attribution (1991) for which she was nominated a BAFTA. Her film appearances have included Stiff Upper Lips (1997), Howard's End (1992), and Wolf (1994). She was awarded the CBE for her services to drama in 1992 and the Patricia Rothermere Award for her contributions to British Theatre in 2001. More recent appearances have included the mini-series The Shell Seekers (2006), a production of Carrie's War at the Apollo Theatre (2009), Horrid Henry: The Movie (2013) and a guest appearance in the popular BBC radio comedy Cabin Pressure (2013). Julian Barnes' The Lemon Table and Anne Fine's Charm School are among the many audiobooks Prunella Scales has narrated.

Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Pick this one!

I loved this book. It breaks my heart that she could not finish it... Ms. Scales gives a great performance. I totally enjoyed it and I'm sad that it had to end.

PRETENTIOUS BUSY-BODIES WITH ONE LONE DIAMOND

If you could sum up Wives and Daughters in three words, what would they be?

Mixed Feelings Galore....

Who was your favorite character and why?

Molly - She was constant in everything and everywhere with everyone regardless of the pretentious busy-body women and near-sighted men in her life. Her gentle nature made her think more positive of others and be kind-hearted to those who tried to belittle and oppress her.

What does Prunella Scales bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her patience and accent. In the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the book I would have become impatient because the story seemed to be going no where but full of mundane descriptions of unimportant backdrops.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I didn't cry. I did laugh, but I also had frustration with the Hyacinth. She was condescending to Molly, but she masked her condescension in the choice of her words. The narrator also helped mask the condescension by the tone of her voice while reading, which is probably a good thing because then I would have been really irritated. I DO NOT like when others are put down and stepped on. I appreciated that Molly could stand up for herself for the most part and speak up to her defense.

Any additional comments?

The fact that the story isn't completed by the author due to her untimely death left me wanting a definite end to the story, but it was nice to be left to the imagination also!

I love this book

What made the experience of listening to Wives and Daughters the most enjoyable?

Prunella Scales did a wonderful job with the voices, I always knew which character was talking.

Any additional comments?

I have loved tis book for a long time and having it as an audiobook is fantastic.

Victorian literature at it's very best

What did you love best about Wives and Daughters?

Loved "everything" about this book. Intelligent author and most beautifully narrated by Prunella Scales.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Wives and Daughters?

It was all good.

Have you listened to any of Prunella Scales’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No but I will seek out books she narrates because she is an outstanding narrator and does both male and female voices beautifully.

If you could take any character from Wives and Daughters out to dinner, who would it be and why?

This is a stupid question; however I will respond by saying that I would enjoy knowing all the characters in this book.

Any additional comments?

It is obvious why Elizabeth Gaskell's books have been chosen by Masterpiece Theatre for dramatization.

Excellent

My kind of story. Like the type characters and the plots!!!!Sad about the author

Long, but great

I'd have to check, but this 25 hour 21 minute long book may be the longest I've ever listened to (which is exactly why I listened to it instead of reading it with my eyeballs, or I wouldn't have finished anywhere near this soon.) But I'm glad I finally got around to it because it was good! Elizabeth Gaskell seems to have been great at crafting believable, relatable characters, flawed though they may be, that you want to read about. You're basically just watching Molly and Cynthia grow up in the society of their day, but the way Gaskell handles it makes it engaging and fascinating so that they, and those around them feel like they could have been real people.

My one complaint may have been that there were a couple times where you could tell it was originally published in serial format because the story meandered. To paraphrase a line from "The Emperor's New Groove", I occasionally found myself wondering, "What's with the chimp and the bug (a.k.a. these characters doing something that seems to have little to do with the main plot)? Can we get back to Molly? :P" but it wasn't too often.

It was also sad to learn at the end that Gaskell died of a heart attack before being able to write the final chapter. (I'd heard that the story ends abruptly, but somehow never caught that it was because the author died.) I don't know if every edition of the book has this, but at the end of this Audible exclusive edition read by Prunella Scales, there was an explanation/summary of why the book ended the way it did, what Gaskell's plans seemed to be for the final chapter, and also a touching little memorial to her that talked about who she was as a person and how truly brilliant an author she was in her day. I wasn't expecting that, but it was very well done and sweet and I actually teared up a bit.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot despite not really knowing what I was getting into when I started, and would like to read it again someday and find the screen adaptations of it. Now that I've enjoyed two titles by this author (North and South being the other one), I'm going to put her other works on my list to read or listen to.

This!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and expert narration. Elizabeth Gaskell, with very few exceptions, could be a contemporary author. Her insight into families and towns is spot on.

Excellent Narration!!

This is the first audio book I've heard by this narrator and it will definitely not be the last. I would listen to anything read by her. She brings the story to life, changes her tones very effectively to match the characters. I was impressed with her ability to include the accents of those characters who are French and Scottish. Excellent narration!

This is also the first book I've read/listen to by this author.I enjoyed the story very much. Each character is quite unique. I will read/listen to other books by this same author

Beautiful book!!

I started this out of reluctance for my book club, but within an hour or so it blossomed into one of my favorite reads in quite a while. 10/10. The reader herself brought the characters to life in such a beautiful and distinct way

Wonderful!

I enjoyed this novel so much. It’s such a shame that Mrs. Gaskell passed before completion.