Follow the small absurdities and major tragedies of the people of Cranford over the course of a year.
Three of Elizabeth Gaskell’s best-loved novels— Cranford, Mr Harrison's Confessions, and My Lady Ludlow—are combined in this witty and poignant look at the market town of Cranford. The railway is pushing its way relentlessly towards the village from Manchester, bringing fears of migrant workers and the breakdown of law and order. The arrival of handsome young Doctor Harrison causes yet further agitation, not just because of his revolutionary methods, but also because of his effect on the hearts of the village’s ladies. Meanwhile Miss Matty Jenkyns nurses her own heart following her forced abandonment of the man she loved since she was a young girl.
Reviews
"When I pick it up I always think it has a different shape or feel to any other book. It was 150 years or so before, and it all made complete sense, and it all humanly worked, and it was a revelation." —Simon Gray, on Cranford
Author Biography
Along with short stories and a biography of Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865) published five more novels including Mary Barton (1848)and Wives and Daughters (1865).