Wives and Daughters, An Every-Day Story is a novel by English author Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in the Cornhill Magazine as a serial from August 1864 to January 1866.

It was partly written whilst Gaskell was staying with the salon hostess Mary Elizabeth Mohl at her home on the Rue de Bac in Paris.

During a visit to the local aristocratic 'great house' of Lord and Lady Cumnor, Molly loses her way on the grounds of the estate and falls asleep under a tree.

The elder son, Osborne, has been expected to distinguish himself at Cambridge and make a brilliant marriage: he is handsome, clever and more fashionable than his brother.

Cynthia has been educated in France, and it gradually becomes apparent that she and her mother have secrets about their past involving the Cumnors' land agent, Mr. Preston, who is rumoured to be a gambler and a scoundrel.

Mrs. Gibson tries unsuccessfully to arrange a marriage between Cynthia and Osborne, as her aspirations include having her daughter married to a member of the landed gentry.

Although she soon regretted this decision, Mr Preston is still obsessed with her, and threatens to show Roger love letters she had written as evidence of her promise.

Molly intervenes on Cynthia's behalf and manages to break off the engagement and get back the letters; however, her interactions with him give rise to rumours that she is romantically involved with Preston herself, and she becomes the subject of malicious gossip.

After this, Cynthia breaks off her engagement to Roger, enduring rebukes and insults for her inconstancy, and quickly accepts and marries Mr Henderson, a professional gentleman she had met in London.

In the BBC adaptation of the novel, an alternative ending was written in which Roger finds himself unwilling to leave Molly without speaking to her of his love, and they marry and return to Africa together.

In 1999, BBC produced a four-part serial based on the novel with a screenplay written by Andrew Davies; Wives and Daughters featuring Justine Waddell, Bill Paterson, Francesca Annis, Keeley Hawes, Rosamund Pike, Tom Hollander, Anthony Howell, Michael Gambon, Penelope Wilton, Barbara Flynn, Deborah Findlay, Iain Glen, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, and Ian Carmichael.

It was a single two-hour fifteen-minute segment and was part of a larger collection of Gaskell's works, including North & South, Ruth, and Cranford, in audio drama form.

It was produced by Peter Leslie Wild and starred Deborah McAndrew as Mrs Gaskell and Emerald O'Hanrahan as Molly Gibson.