Wives and Daughters

Ripping yarn!

An engrossing tale of maidenly virtue rewarded, with plenty of top-notch melodrama, muslin, beef tea, vague Victorian illnesses, worsted, swooning, rampant xenophobia and tea-drinking.

The narrator, Josephine Bailey, deserves some sort of award. She manages to sound Victorian, and gives every character just the right accent and energy; each individual leaps, as it were, from the page, three-dimensional and totally convincing. The whole thing feels like a brilliantly-directed radio play. Loved it.

2 people found this helpful

Warning! Well, There Should Be One...

I didn't realise when I bought this - despite having a degree in Eng Lit and having read most of Gaskell's other novels - that this book is incomplete. Rather selfishly, Elizabeth G died in the middle of writing it. Well, almost at the end of writing it. Which means even if you're enjoying it, it is a blow. Maybe we were warned somewhere on Audible that it is an incomplete book - but if we were, I missed it. I prefer every other EG novel, to this one. It is a very mature work, and quite subtle. Stick with 'Cranford'. 'Cousin Phillis' or 'The Life of Charlotte Bronte' if you want a more readable and engrossing intro to Mrs G.

1 person found this helpful

An excellent listen

I spent a long time deciding which audible 'Wives and Daughters' to listen to. I am very pleased with my choice as the characterisation from Josephine Bailey was excellent and she really brings the story to life. At times I truely believe that there is more than one person involved. The story is very good and deserves to be more well known. I hope you enjoy it too.

1 person found this helpful

Gaskells Best Book, Tremendous Narration

This has always been my favourite Elizabeth Gaskell novel and this Audible Book is the best one to pick if you like each character to have their own personality. It capitivates your attention from start to finish. Definitely not one for going to sleep to! Josephine Bailey has narrated this superbly, each character has their own distinctive accent and it is easy to use your imagination to build a picture up in your mind of everything going on, even if you haven't seen the television version, which I might add is very close to the original story. If this version was used as an aid for an English Lit. Exam, I can whole heartedly say it would be extremely advantageous to exam success. Brilliant, well done Josephine.

1 person found this helpful

Ending not presented properly

The missing ending is rushed into without a proper explanation that Elizabeth Gaskell had died just before she completed it and 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.)

A good yarn

What a fantastic literary creation Hyacinth Gibson is! If you like your characters three-dimensional, you will appreciate Elizabeth Gaskell's writing. The wise ones make stupid mistakes and regret them, the silly conniving ones get what they want, good things happen to bad people etc etc. A great story, shame it doesn't finish entirely because she died before completing it, but there is enough for you to finish it yourself in your mind. A comfortable, gentle, provincial story about people's lives in the vein of Jane Austen. The narrator does excellent voices, each character is easy to differentiate. However her normal 'narrator' voice was a little stiff and stilted, and took some getting used to. Once the writing was dialogue between characters, it really flowed. Well worth purchasing.

Just Perfect

I downloaded this audiobook because I was the mood for something with a Jane Austen feel; little did I know just how wonderful the story would be and how sad I was when after finishing it to learn that Elizabeth Gaskell didn’t live to finish it, such a shame. I would recommend this to all Jane Austen fans.