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Wives and Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell. Part III. May 18, 2022

Show notes

Gaskell’s last novel Wives and Daughters, widely considered her masterpiece, follows the fortunes of two families in the nineteenth century rural England.

The novel looks at the English life in the 1830s through the experiences of Molly Gibson, the daughter of a widowed doctor growing up in the provincial town of Hollingford. When Mr. Gibson decides to marry again, Molly is forced to contend with a pretentious stepmother, but consoled by a close friendship with Cynthia, her new stepsister.

The girls' relations with the local residents, particularly the Squire of Hamley Hall and his family, make for incidents comic, romantic, and tragic, by turns.

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Wives and Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell. Part II. May 18, 2022

Show notes

Gaskell’s last novel Wives and Daughters, widely considered her masterpiece, follows the fortunes of two families in the nineteenth century rural England.

The girls' relations with the local residents, particularly the Squire of Hamley Hall and his family, make for incidents comic, romantic, and tragic, by turns.

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Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wives and Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell. Part I. May 18, 2022

Show notes

Gaskell’s last novel Wives and Daughters, widely considered her masterpiece, follows the fortunes of two families in the nineteenth century rural England.

The girls' relations with the local residents, particularly the Squire of Hamley Hall and his family, make for incidents comic, romantic, and tragic, by turns.

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The Man in the Iron Mask, by Alexandre Dumas. Part VI. May 17, 2022

Show notes

The Man in the Iron Mask is the final part of The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later, which is the last of the three d'Artagnan Romances, following The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After.

Set in the 1660s and concerned with the early reign of Louis XIV, the novel has been called an "origins" story of the King, "a tale about the education of a young man who went on to rule for over 70 years and become one of France's most beloved monarchs."

Dumas constructs the plot around the notion that the Man in the Iron Mask is the twin brother of Louis XIV, Philippe, who had been concealed and imprisoned from birth by his father, Louis XIII, and his mother, Anne of Austria, "for the good of France". Only a very few people living at the start of the novel know of Philippe's existence; these include his mother, Anne, and her former confidante, the Duchesse de Chevreuse. Chevreuse has let the secret slip to Aramis when they had an affair. (From Wikipedia)

At the same time D’Artagnan’s fortune is near its height; having become the illustrious Captain of the Musketeers, he is now the chief defender of King Louis XIV. Fortune has also smiled on his three companions: Aramis is a wealthy bishop and the powerful, secret Superior General of the Jesuit Order (or “the black pope”); Athos is the premier nobleman of France; and Porthos becomes a Duke with the proud but garishly long-winded title of “du Vallon de Bracieux de Pierrefonds.”