Wives and Daughters Summary

In the early 1800s, Molly is about 12 years old and lives in the rural town of Hollingford, England with her father, Mr. Gibson, who is the town’s doctor. Molly’s mother died when Molly was three years old. One day, the wealthiest landowner in town, Lord Cumnor, invites Molly to a party at his house. A neighbor named Miss Browning escorts Molly to the party. Molly is excited to go, but when she arrives, the commotion of the party overwhelms her. She goes outside to walk through the gardens but dozes off. Hours later, she wakes up, but Miss Browning is gone. Clare, the Cumnor family’s kind if somewhat absentminded governess, takes care of Molly until Gibson comes to pick her up.

Molly’s life proceeds uneventfully until she is 17. At that point, one of Gibson’s apprentices, Mr. Coxe, develops feelings for Molly. Mr. Gibson intercepts a note intended for Molly in which Coxe confesses his feelings. Wanting to ensure that nothing happens between Molly and Coxe, Mr. Gibson sends Molly to stay with the Hamley family for two weeks until he (Mr. Gibson) can figure out what to do next.

Squire Hamley and Mrs. Hamley warmly greet Molly when she arrives at their house. Squire Hamley is a landowner whose family has roots in the area that go back centuries. When Molly is with the Hamleys, she spends most of her time with Mrs. Hamley, who is ill, and the two form a deep and close bond. Molly also eventually meets the Hamleys’ sons, Roger and Osborne, who are studying at Cambridge. Molly forms a friendship with Roger, and from a distance, she admires Osborne and develops nascent romantic feelings for him. Roger comes off as down-to-earth and steady, while Osborne, the family’s heir, is considered brilliant. However, when Roger comes home for a vacation from university, he tells the family that Osborne has vastly underperformed academically, throwing the family into distress. The family becomes even more distraught when they learn that Osborne has accrued significant debts through his lavish spending.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gibson feels like his household is falling into disarray, and he decides that to remedy the issue, and to provide someone who will be able to help guide Molly, he must remarry. On a visit to Cumnor Towers (the residence of the Cumnor family), he examines Lady Cumnor. While there, Gibson sees Clare, who is visiting the family now that she works as a schoolteacher elsewhere. Gibson believes he’s found the wife he is looking for. He proposes to Clare, and Clare accepts. The news distresses Molly, as she fears that she’ll lose the close relationship she has with her father. Roger counsels Molly to think of her father’s happiness, not just her own distress, which helps Molly adjust to the impending changes in her life.

After Gibson and Clare are married, Molly moves back to her home. At first, Molly and Clare don’t get along. Even Gibson can’t entirely overlook the fact that Clare seems to be capricious and materialistic. During that time, Mrs. Hamley’s illness progresses, and Molly often goes to the Hamleys’ house to try and help out. During one of those visits, Molly learns that Osborne has secretly married a French servant named Aimée. The marriage goes directly against Squire Hamley’s wishes, as he wanted Osborne to marry someone from a wealthy family who could bring money to the Hamley family.

Clare’s daughter Cynthia, who is Molly’s age, comes to live with the Gibson family. Clare and Cynthia form a fast friendship. During the early days of that friendship, Mrs. Hamley succumbs to her illness and dies. Molly, who is now considered almost part of the Hamley family, tries to help attend to the Hamleys as best she can.

Meanwhile, people in town seem especially taken with Cynthia too. That includes Roger, who quickly develops feelings for Cynthia. Molly watches on, somewhat jealous of Cynthia but also unwilling to admit, even to herself, that she has fallen in love with Roger. Roger has also been proving himself at university. He is named a senior wrangler and also receives a prestigious fellowship.

When Osborne’s debts threaten to overwhelm the family, Roger decides to look for employment to keep the family afloat. After Roger writes a well-received scientific article, Lord Hollingford, the son of Lord and Lady Cumnor, presents Roger with an opportunity to go on a two-year scientific expedition. Roger accepts the position. Before he leaves, he confesses his feelings for Cynthia. He tells Cynthia that though he wants her to consider herself unencumbered while he is away, but he will think of himself as being engaged to her. Cynthia halfheartedly accepts the proposal, but she urges Roger, Clare, Molly, and Gibson to keep it a secret.

After Roger leaves for the expedition, Molly comes across Cynthia in the woods one day talking with Preston, who is the Cumnors’ land agent (meaning he looks after the Cumnors’ properties). Preston has a reputation in town as a gambler and drinker, and Molly doesn’t know why he and Cynthia would be spending time together. Molly approaches them, and Cynthia explains that Preston loaned her £20 when she was 16 years old. She says that he told her he would forgive the debt if she promised to marry him and then hounded her until she broke down and wrote him a letter, saying that she would marry him when she turned 20. Since she wrote that fateful letter, though, Cynthia has been trying to get out of that engagement. Preston, though, has been blackmailing her, and he threatens to publish her letters if she doesn’t agree to marry him.

Molly promises to try and help Cynthia to get out of Preston’s blackmail scheme. She meets with Preston privately and says she’ll get the Cumnor family involved if he doesn’t give Cynthia the letters. Eventually, Preston returns the letters. Right before Cynthia is set to leave for London to visit her cousins, she says that the last thing she wants Molly to do is give back the 20 pounds she initially borrowed from Preston. Then she’ll be free and clear of the matter once and for all. The next day, Molly sees Preston in a bookstore and hands him an envelope with the money before walking out.

People in town have seen Molly talking privately with Preston, though, and rumors begin to circulate that Molly is secretly involved with Preston and perhaps even engaged to him. Eventually, those rumors get back to Gibson, who confronts Molly about them. Molly says they’re not true, and Gibson believes her, but Molly urges Gibson not to do anything to dispel those rumors. Molly is worried that, if Gibson acts, the truth about Cynthia’s involvement with Preston will come out. The rumors about Molly also find their way to Lady Harriet, Lord and Lady Cumnor’s daughter. Harriet is friendly with Molly and thinks highly of her. Harriet doesn’t believe the rumors could be true, and she confronts Preston about them. He grudgingly says that he had been engaged to Cynthia, but Cynthia rejected him.

When Cynthia returns home from London, she’s surprised to learn that she is now the subject of the town’s gossip. People are saying that she wrongfully led on Preston before rejecting him. Cynthia is distraught about the rumors and fears that her reputation has been irrevocably sullied. She decides to break off the engagement with Roger because, she says, she likes and respects him but does not love him. She also resolves to move to Russia to become a governess so she can get away from the rumors in town. Instead of going to Russia, though, Cynthia returns to London to stay with her uncle and cousins.

At that same time, a messenger arrives announcing that Osborne has died of an illness that Gibson long suspected might kill him. Molly goes to the Hamleys’ house to try and comfort Squire Hamley. She also writes to Osborne’s widow, Aimée, and tells her that Osborne is ill but doesn’t say that Osborne has died. She also learns that Aimée and Osborne have a child together.

When Aimée receives the letter saying that Osborne is ill, she rides with her child in her arms as fast as she can until she reaches the Hamleys’ house. There, she learns that Osborne is dead and breaks down in tears. Roger also returns from his scientific expedition when he hears that his brother has died. Molly works so hard trying to care for the Hamley family that Gibson fears that she will become ill and sends her home.

At home, Molly becomes ill. As soon as Cynthia hears that her stepsister is sick, she returns to Hollingford from London to help take care of her, even though she swore to never set foot in Hollingford again after becoming the subject of the town’s gossip. Cynthia’s selfless devotion to her stepsister rehabilitates her image in town, and people stop gossiping about her. Soon after Cynthia returns, she receives a marriage proposal by mail from Mr. Henderson, a young, soon-to-be lawyer she met through her uncle and cousins in London. Henderson says he is on the way to Hollingford, and Cynthia accepts the proposal.

Meanwhile, Roger comes to the Gibson house to have one last conversation with Cynthia to see if she is really intent on breaking off their engagement. While he’s talking with Molly, the two of them see Cynthia and Mr. Henderson walking outside. Molly tells Roger that Cynthia is engaged to Henderson, and Roger quickly leaves and returns home.

Over the next few months, Roger finds himself developing feelings for Molly. Aimée’s son has come down with scarlet fever, though, so Roger can’t see Molly in person for fear of spreading the illness. Roger eventually confesses his feelings to Gibson, who approves of the match and tells Molly what Roger has said. Molly is overjoyed, but Roger must return to finish his scientific expedition, which will last another six months. Before he goes, Roger, still observing contagion protocols regarding scarlet fever, waves to Molly from the Gibsons’ yard, and Molly waves to him from her window. When Roger returns months later, he and Molly marry.