Wives and Daughters

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865) is one of the most famous "literary ladies" of Victorian England, the author of the novels "Cranford", "North and South", "Wives and Daughters". The latter remained unfinished due to the author's sudden death; the concluding part of the novel was completed by journalist and writer F. Greenwood, relying on the writer's own instructions regarding the plot and resolution. The novel is considered the pinnacle of Gaskell's creativity. According to Henry James, it contains "a minimum of head," a cold play of mind and reason, and therefore evokes a "sympathetic response from all without exception." The sparkling humor and good-natured irony, which permeate every page, are written with the most delicate stylistic virtuosity. Before us is a panorama of a typical English provincial town in the flourishing Victorian era with all its comical characters and ridiculous conventions, cozy tea parties and receptions at the manor, marriages of convenience and the torments of unrequited love. Before us is a panorama of human emotions, enclosed in the double frame of strict Victorian virtue and the author's endless faith in the triumph of good.