Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

Set in a small English town during the 19th century, Cranford depicts the lives of women, centering on the elderly, the widowed, and the unmarried. The social expectations and customs of Cranford are mostly enforced by three older women. Rowena Fowler is a wealthy woman who takes pride in her luxury items and has outlived all of her kin. Betsy Barker is a sweet, but a bit odd lady, who has a pet cow that she loves so dearly that she sews pajamas for...

When Paul Manning begins working as an engineer clerk for the railroad, he decides to move in with his mother's family on their farm. There, he is able to be closer to his job as the railroad paves the way for further industrialization of rural areas. While Paul is advancing in his career and settling in his new home, his attention is held by his cousin, Phillis. Paul and Phillis become quick friends and confidants. Worried for her, Paul keeps a close...

Fox Editing Classics presents this newlly edited and designed publication of Elizabeth Gaskell's short story collection. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865), while better known for her 1857 biography of Charlotte Brontë and her still-popular novels, such as Cranford (1851-1853) and Wives and Daughters (1864-1866), her literary works also included several Gothic ghost stories. Curious, if True, originally published in 1861, collects five of these...

Lady Ludlow is a complex and fascinating character, who embodies the contradictions and tensions of her time. On the one hand, she is a deeply traditional and conservative figure, who believes in the strict hierarchy and social codes of her class. On the other hand, she is also a compassionate and caring woman, who is committed to helping the poor and vulnerable members of her community. As the story unfolds, Lady Ludlow becomes embroiled in a series...

A lawyer's search for a missing heir has him dealing with curses, demons, and nuns in this chilling gothic tale by the author of Mary Barton. A London lawyer is hired to locate the rightful heir to a sizeable estate in Ireland. His search leads him to Bridget Fitzgerald, a lonely Catholic housekeeper with an affinity for magic. Then he meets a beautiful young woman named Lucy who lives a pious life on the moors. When the lawyer becomes smitten and...

A mother searches for her missing daughter in this short tale of love and Victorian morality from the author of Cranford and North and South. Eager to see the world, young Lizzie Leigh leaves her childhood home behind to work in Manchester, England. Sadly, she is soon led astray and finds herself pregnant with an illegitimate child. After she abandons her job, her family discovers what she has done. Her father, James, is ashamed and declares her...

There is one characteristic of Robert Griffiths which I have omitted to note, and which was peculiar among his class. He was no hard drinker; whether it was that his head was easily affected, or that his partially-refined taste led him to dislike intoxication and its attendant circumstances, I cannot say; but at five-and-twenty Robert Griffiths was habitually sober-a thing so rare in Llyn, that he was almost shunned as a churlish, unsociable being,...

Sylvia Robson lives happily with her parents on a farm, and is passionately loved by her rather dull Quaker cousin Philip. She, however, meets and falls in love with Charlie Kinraid, a dashing sailor on a whaling vessel, and they become secretly engaged. When Kinraid goes back to his ship, he is forcibly enlisted in the Royal Navy by a press gang, a scene witnessed by Philip. Philip does not tell Sylvia of the incident nor relay to her Charlie's parting...

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell's Half-Brothersfollows two brothers, Gregory, and his younger brother, who is left, unnamed. After the death of her first husband, Helen, Gregory's mother, remarries a man named William Preston. Together, they conceive a child, but Helen tragically dies during childbirth. Mourning the loss of his wife, but happy about the arrival of his son, William is left to raise both children alone. However, since Gregory is quiet, slightly...