Books like Wives and daughters by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell


Set in an English provincial town of the 1830s, the novel follows Molly Gibson, the sole daughter of a widowed physician. Raised with the expectations of both motherhood and propriety, Molly navigates courtship, family dynamics, and the social customs of her era. The story examines the pressures on young women, the obligations of fathers and daughters, and the nuanced etiquette that governs country life and broader social classes.
First publish date: 1867
Genre: Literary Fiction/Classic Literature
Authors: Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 3.8 (5 community ratings)

Wives and daughters by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

How are these books recommended?

The books recommended for Wives and daughters by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell are shaped by reader interaction. Votes on how closely books relate, user ratings, and community comments all help refine these recommendations and highlight books readers genuinely find similar in theme, ideas, and overall reading experience.


Have you read any of these books?
Your votes, ratings, and comments help improve recommendations and make it easier for other readers to discover books they’ll enjoy.

Books similar to Wives and daughters (18 similar books)

Pride and Prejudice by 6487689|Jane Austen book cover

πŸ“˜ Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is a classic novel by Jane Austen.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 4.1 (304 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Wuthering Heights by 6790590|Emily Brontë book cover

πŸ“˜ Wuthering Heights

A dark, passionate tale set on the West Yorkshire moors, following the tumultuous love and revenge between the Earnshaws, Lintons, and the enigmatic Heathcliff.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 3.9 (222 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Jane Eyre by 1460212|Charlotte Brontë book cover

πŸ“˜ Jane Eyre

Set in north England, Jane Eyre follows an orphaned governess who faces abuse, hardship, and ultimately a complicated love with her employer, Edward Rochester, while contemplating marriage to her austere cousin St. John Rivers.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 4.0 (144 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Emma by 6487689|Jane Austen book cover

πŸ“˜ Emma

A novel about Emma Woodhouse, a young woman's struggles with matchmaking, misplaced pride, and the dangers of meddling in others' lives in 18th-century England.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 4.0 (46 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Persuasion by 6487689|Jane Austen book cover

πŸ“˜ Persuasion

A love story set in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, where Anne Elliot finds herself amidst the Regency era as her sister rents Miss Elliot's father's house, leading to an unexpected reunion with Captain Frederick Wentworth and the return of her beloved.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 4.3 (39 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Sense and Sensibility by 6487689|Jane Austen book cover

πŸ“˜ Sense and Sensibility

A timeless tale of love, sisterhood, and the complexities of social customs and class in 19th-century England.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 3.8 (36 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Middlemarch by 6790486|George Eliot book cover

πŸ“˜ Middlemarch

Set in the 1830s Midlands, George Eliot’s Middlemarch intertwines village life, politics, and the struggles of its characters to explore social reform, gender roles, and community hypocrisy.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 4.1 (21 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
North and South by 1511085|Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell book cover

πŸ“˜ North and South

When her father leaves the Church, Margaret Hale moves from Hampshire to the industrial north; her encounters with poverty, social injustice, and a turbulent love affair with mill owner John Thornton reveal her growing activism and complex heart.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 4.1 (17 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Pride and Prejudice by 11042802|Donald Gray book cover

πŸ“˜ Pride and Prejudice

A timeless novel about love, manners, and the struggle for wealth and status in 19th-century England.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 3.6 (17 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Bleak House by 6801893|Charles Dickens book cover

πŸ“˜ Bleak House

In Dickens’s sweeping novel, the protracted Jarndyce and Jarndyce case in the Court of Chancery pulls together a disparate castβ€” from heirs torn by legal costs to a mysterious ward, a cunning lawyer, and a destitute street sweeperβ€” exposing London’s social decay.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 3.9 (14 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
David Copperfield by 6801893|Charles Dickens book cover

πŸ“˜ David Copperfield

A coming‑of‑age narrative set in 19th‑century England, following young David Copperfield as he navigates orphanhood, hardship and society’s social hierarchies.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 4.5 (13 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews by 6137578|Henry Fielding book cover

πŸ“˜ The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews

A comic adventure of Joseph Andrews, a loyal footman who resists Lady Booby’s advances, escapes London with his love Fanny Goodwill, faces thieves, and ultimately marries after comedic reversals.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 3.5 (6 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The Mill on the Floss by 6790486|George Eliot book cover

πŸ“˜ The Mill on the Floss

A coming‑of‑age tale set in 19th‑century England, following siblings Maggie and Tom Tulliver as they navigate love, family duty and society’s expectations at the eponymous mill.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 4.2 (5 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Silas Marner by 6790486|George Eliot book cover

πŸ“˜ Silas Marner

Silas Marner follows a recluse weaver who withdraws to Raveloe after a wrongful accusation, finding redemption and a second chance at life through the love of an abandoned child.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 3.5 (2 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by 6801893|Charles Dickens book cover

πŸ“˜ The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

Nicholas Nickleby's struggle to support his mother and sister.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 3.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Daniel Deronda by 6790486|George Eliot book cover

πŸ“˜ Daniel Deronda

George Eliot’s final novel follows Daniel Deronda, a young English upper‑classman who, after a chance meeting with the Jewish woman Mirah, becomes embroiled in a search for her lost family and develops a deep sympathy for Jewish aspirations.

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 4.0 (1 rating)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Elizabeth Gaskell by 9716885|J. A. V. Chapple book cover

πŸ“˜ Elizabeth Gaskell


β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 0.0 (0 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0
Library of classic women's literature by 6487689|Jane Austen book cover

πŸ“˜ Library of classic women's literature


β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 0.0 (0 ratings)
Similar? ✓ Yes 0 ✗ No 0

Some Other Similar Books

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Henry James: The Art of Fiction by Henry James
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Have a similar book in mind? Let others know!

Please login to submit books!