4 Books Found

Based on your description:

"I believe this was a historical novel, likely fiction. It begins with the death of the mother, and following the lives of her children after her death, before flashing back to the life of the mother before she joined the family, including meeting her husband - i think she lived in a rural town, and he was scandalously skirt-chasing before maybe getting her pregnant? she married him and moved to the city. To my memory, he drowns relatively shortly after their marriage, or maybe after her death? but that may be impacted by having read this a long time ago and reading it fairly quickly so the timeline of everything compacts. I think it was set in England, possibly set in the victorian period."