Wives and Daughters: In Half the Time by Elizabeth Gaskell

younger Molly Gibson's lifestyles is overturned while her formerly doting father remarries, bringing with him a manipulative step-mother and an advanced but stricken step-sister. Can Molly hold her head while she turns into the centre of attention in a community rife with gossip? She finds herself acting as a pass-between in her step-sister's love affairs - and in doing so dangers destroying her recognition and her very own threat of love and happiness.