Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
1) Mary Barton
4) Ruth
9) Lizzie Leigh
Like Gaskell's earlier novel Mary Barton, “Lizzie Leigh” is set in Manchester. It tells the story of a mother from the countryside who moves to the city in a desperate search for her only daughter, Lizzie. In this story, Gaskell teaches readers to have sympathy for Lizzie—a woman who is ostracized by traditional Victorian society.
This story follows two families who run political newspapers of opposing parties - one Whig and one Tory. The two families are opposed in other ways as well - one is poor and one is wealthy, one cannot conceive and the other has a young child. When a crisis occurs, the families are able to put aside their differences in time for Christmas.
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (née Stevenson; 29 September
...11) The Poor Clare
The Poor Clare is a short story by English Victorian writer Elizabeth Gaskell. First serialised in three installments in 1856 Charles Dickens' popular magazine Household Words, The Poor Clare is a gothic ghost story about a young woman unwittingly cursed by her own grandmother. Squire Starkey, a recusant Jacobite, returns to Starkey Manor with his Irish wife and their son Patrick. Accompanying them
...12) Right at Last
A novella, set in Scotland, by prolific Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell. The heroine, Margaret, falls in love, but her father disapproves of her suitor due to his enigmatic family background. The two marry anyway, and the husband begins a successful career as a doctor - until his dark secret is revealed. This story deals with themes of prejudice, social status, and women's independence.
The same 1853 Extra Christmas Number of Household Wordscontained ‘The Scholar’s Story’, a translation into octosyllabic couplets of some of the Breton ballads collected by the Vicomte de la Villemarqué. Possibly William Gaskell, as a linguist, produced the initial rendering, this being subsequently versified with the help of his wife, who probably supplied the brief prose introduction. The narrative tells of a priest’s treachery
...1855 short story from the English novelist and short story writer, whose writings can be seen as critiques of Victorian era attitudes, particularly those toward women, with complex narratives and dynamic women characters. A classic tale in which a woman almost marries a violent man, and reflects on her choices in life.
Two boys, having lost their mother at a young age, are raised by her widower. The narrator - the younger boy - is beloved by his father, but his elder half-brother, Gregory, was the son of their mother's first husband, and her widower has no love for him. One winter's night, the narrator takes a short-cut coming home from an errand, and doesn't return when expected. Gregory braves the storm to save his young half-brother, finally
...17) Crowley Castle
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of Victorian society, including the very poor. Her work is of interest to social historians as well as readers of literature. Her first novel, Mary Barton, was published in 1848. Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë, published in 1857,
...20) Disappearances
A short piece by Victorian novelist and writer Elizabeth Gaskell, in which she recounts the stories of several people who disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and praises the detective work that resolved the cases.