A Joy

I enjoyed listening to this novel so much. I felt completely drawn in every time I listened. I really think the writing of this book is superb! Gaskell was really at her peak. So sad that it is unfinished! But even so, it is complete enough to know the general ending and doesn’t diminish the beauty of the story. The narrator is fantastic. I enjoyed her interpretation of each character. The audio sounds a bit tinny when using headphones. But fine without. I will definitely be listening again.

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Great Characters & Social-scene Painting

Mrs Gaskell gives life to a host of characters with their strengths and weaknesses lovingly depicted. None is two-dimensional, all have human depth. Mrs Kirkpatrick is a wonderful comic creation whom I could cheerfully have strangled on a number of occasions.
Mrs Gaskell's view of the foibles and conventions of 19th century England is gently optimistic. Her approach is softer and more domestic than Dickens (who rated her very highly).
Read with splendid chacterisations by Nadia May.

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6 people found this helpful

Lovely novel; wonderful reader (Nadia May)

In terms of character creation this novel seems to me equal if not superior to anything by Dickens or George Eliot. How has Mrs Gaskell managed to make such an engaging, thoroughly satisfying narrative out of these humdrum,even banal events? Her creations are so individual, so varied and so real-seeming that the lack of any complicated plotting or intrigue never strikes you.

But I'd like to stress the superb interpretation by Nadia May, a reader new to me. I've listened to hundreds of audiobooks over many years (chronic insomniac) and am very fussy about how they are presented. Wrong inflections, careless or lazy readings where you know the interpreter is coasting through the text can be maddening and spoil the whole pleasure (and wake you up!) It's not the beauty of the sound that's most important; I've been listening to Penelope Wilton reading this novel on Oneword, and despite a delightfully seductive and warm voice her reading is nowhere near as intelligent and varied as that of Nadia May - who does a wonderful job with everyone from the child Molly to the saccharine, insincere Mrs Gibson, by way of various male characters young and old. What a tour de force! I hope she reads this...I felt uncharacteristically moved to express my pleasure.

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8 people found this helpful

Wives and Daughters

This is the perfect book for those wishing to surround themselves in a pre railways era. Molly Mat seems a little mawkish to current day tastes but she wins your sympathy by the end, while the divine Cynthia holds your attention from the very beginning.

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fascinating book

I read and listen to a lot of 19th century literature. Whilst you could not claim it has a lot of narrative drive - and you want to shake most of the characters a lot of the time - it was still very enjoyable. The good characters are convincingly good - and the mixed up characters are convincingly good at messing up their own lives and families. Mrs Gibson is a completely authentic pain in the neck. You would enjoy this book

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3 people found this helpful

19th Centuary Charm

Mrs Gaskell has a clear and, at times, acerbic eye for the social mores of her day. This tale of Dr Gibson and his family is to be remembered not just for for the trials endured by the heroine Molly Gibson, but the social milieu in which she had her being. This observation of the manners of a middle class family, the behaviour of the local aristocracy and an ancient yeoman farming family is the chief delight of this masterpeice which is without doubt the best of Elizabeth Gaskells's output.
The Reader, Nadia May, is so well suited to both the period and style that it is a performance which in every way compliments Mrs Gaskell's prose.
A very fine audiobook that, despite its length, was a total joy.

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2 people found this helpful

19th century escapism!

I only knew the work of Mrs Gaskill from the television version of Cranford (my next read) and have been delighted by this wonderful novel. Nadia May has the perfect voice to narrate this story and I'm glad to see that she's doing Cranford as well.

Molly Gibson is a delightful heroine, if a little bit goody two shoes at times, and her stepsister Cynthia a contrasting flippertygibbet leaving a trail of broken hearts in her wake. Molly's stepmother is someone you'd cheerfully strangle in the middle of one of her snobbish and selfish homilies, while her doctor father is the epitome of Scottish good sense. All these characters are drawn with irony and wit, beautifully performed by the skilful narrator.

I thoroughly recommend this book as a blessed relief from 21st century bad news days.

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1 person found this helpful

Consonants clicking sound and ending poorly done

The recording is faulty. The consonants make an awful clicking sound. And the missing ending is rushed into without a proper explanation that Elizabeth Gaskell had died just before she completed the novel but that the editor who sketched out the ending knew from her family how she intended it to end.. (That doesn't spoil the story but the ending should not come as a shock to the listener.)

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