Cranford

by Elizabeth Gaskell, Josie Billington (Introduction)

Overview

Elizabeth Gaskell's much loved novel of small town rural life, introduced by Dr Josie Billington and with illustrations by the celebrated Hugh Thomson.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509881147
Publisher:	Pan Macmillan
Publication date:	05/03/2018
Series:	Macmillan Collector's Library , #162
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	25 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell was born in London in 1810. Her mother, Eliza, the niece of the potter Josiah Wedgwood, died when she was a child. Much of her childhood was spent in Knutsford, Cheshire, a town she would later immortalize as Cranford. In 1832 she married a Unitarian minister, William Gaskell, and they settled in Manchester. The industrial surroundings offered her inspiration for her writings and it was here that she wrote both Cranford (1853) and North and South (1855), as well as the first biography of Charlotte Brontë. Her last novel, Wives and Daughters, said by many to be her most mature work, remained unfinished at the time of her death in 1865.
Mrs Gaskell was born Elizabeth Stevenson in London in 1810. Her mother Eliza, the niece of the potter Josiah Wedgwood, died when she was a child. Much of her childhood was spent in Cheshire, where she lived with an aunt at Knutsford, a town she would later immortalise as Cranford. In 1832, she married a Unitarian minister, William Gaskell (who had a literary career of his own), and they settled in Manchester. The industrial surroundings offered her inspiration for her novels. Gaskell's first novel, Mary Barton, was published anonymously in 1848. The best-known of her other novels are Cranford (1853) and North and South (1855). Elizabeth met Charlotte Brontë in 1850, and they struck up a great friendship. After Charlotte's death in 1855, her father, the Reverend Patrick Brontë, asked Gaskell to write her biography to counteract gossip and speculation. The Life of Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857. Gaskell was also a skilled proponent of the ghost story. Her last novel, Wives and Daughters, said by many to be her most mature work remained unfinished at the time of her death in 1865.

Table of Contents

I	Our Society	1
II	The Captain	9
III	A Love Affair of Long Ago	20
IV	A Visit to an Old Bachelor	26
V	Old Letters	35
VI	Poor Peter	43
VII	Visiting	52
VIII	"Your Ladyship"	59
IX	Signor Brunoni	69
X	The Panic	76
XI	Samuel Brown	87
XII	Engaged to Be Married	95
XIII	Stopped Payment	101
XIV	Friends in Need	110
XV	A Happy Return	123
XVI	Peace to Cranford	132

Editorial Reviews

Elizabeth Langland’s edition of Cranford is likely to introduce a new generation of readers to the pleasures of Gaskell’s most delightful but least immediately appreciated novel. By including in her appendices of historical materials choice selections from conduct books and writings on political and domestic economy, as well as in her informed, accessible introduction, Langland demonstrates that, appearances aside, the world of Cranford is firmly located in its Victorian context and addresses, however obliquely, some of the most intractable problems of its age—and of ours.” — Eileen Gillooly, Columbia University

From the Publisher

"Elizabeth Langland's edition of Cranford is likely to introduce a new generation of readers to the pleasures of Gaskell's most delightful but least immediately appreciated novel. By including in her appendices of historical materials choice selections from conduct books and writings on political and domestic economy, as well as in her informed, accessible introduction, Langland demonstrates that, appearances aside, the world of Cranford is firmly located in its Victorian context and addresses, however obliquely, some of the most intractable problems of its age—and of ours."

Eileen Gillooly Columbia University

Clare Wille’s performance of this gently satirical look at a genteel English village in the first half of the nineteenth century may be the wittiest I’ve ever heard. Like a kinder version of E.F. Benson’s Mapp v. Lucia novels, Gaskell’s ladies of Cranford have their jealousies and their vanities. They also have moments of quiet tragedy (a lost brother, a suitor rejected to please the family but never forgotten) and of high drama. Wille made me laugh aloud at the pompous trumpeting of the late Reverend Jenkins. When Miss Poe comes in out of breath, you could swear Wille was running up stairs while delivering her lines. Her performance is always fully engaged, at one with the story, which is itself a small gem. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2008 - AudioFile