Elizabeth Gaskell

Two families from rural 19th century England are tested and tried in Elizabeth Gaskell's classic Wives and Daughters. Vividly portraying the world of the early 1800s, this story is full of observation and character studies with a deft undertone of comedy. 596 pages, softcover.

Wives and Daughters, Elizabeth Gaskell's last novel, is regarded by many as her masterpiece. Molly Gibson is the daughter of the doctor in the small provincial town of Hollingford. Her widowed father marries a second time to give Molly the woman's presence he feels she lacks, but until the arrival of Cynthia, her dazzling stepsister, Molly finds her situation hard to accept. Intertwined with the story of the Gibsons is that of Squire Hamley and his two sons. As Molly grows up and falls in love, she learns to judge people for what they are, not what they seem. Through Molly's observations the hierarchies, social values, and social changes of early-nineteenth-century English life are made vivid in a novel that is timeless in its representation of human relationships.
Unabridged audio CD; approximately 27 hours; 22 CDs.

Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South is a wonderful blend of social comment on the dramatic changes in society brought about by the industrial revolution and a compelling love story. This Macmillan Collector's Library edition is a handsome pocket-sized edition that features gilded edges, a cloth-bound imprinted hardcover binding with dust jacket, and a ribbon marker. Afterword by Kathryn White. Measures 4" x 6"; 651 pages.

This is the story of Margaret Hale and explores the exploitation of the working class, linking the plight of workers with that of women and probing the myth and reality of the 'north-south divide'.

In Ruth, the author set out to portray, not 'the Condition of England' already famously addressed in Mary Barton, but the nature and sensibility of a fallen woman. In considering a 'fallen woman', Gaskell explores the worlds of nineteenth-century experience concerned with women and family, sexuality, love and religion.

Mary Barton, the daughter of a disillusioned trade unionist, rejects her working-class lover in hopes of marrying Henry Carson, the mill-owner's son, and making a better life for herself and her father. But when Henry is shot by a man suspected to be her lover, she must deal with her choices. A powerful dramatization of the class divisions in England. 417 pages, softcover.