William gaskell

Elizabeth gaskell books in order
Elizabeth gaskell famous works
Elizabeth gaskell books ranked

•

I had no idea what to expect when I opened an Elizabeth Gaskell novel. When she was referred to in books about other women writers of her time period, it was often dismissively. I had an idea in my mind from these comments made in books about other, what were considered more serious writers, that she was a petty gossip and unimportant woman writer. She seemed best known for botching a biography of Charlotte Brontë, one of those serious contemporary writers. Therefore, I successfully ignored Elizabeth Gaskell until a month ago. I absolutely regret now that I fell for those negative depictions and that it took me so long to turn a serious gaze toward Elizabeth Gaskell.

Wanting to read her without interpretation, I acquired Gaskell’s novel North and South, published in 1855, from the library and flipped past the introduction.

I was immediately taken in by the story, the impressive main character, and the writing. This is a good book, I thought, becoming excited knowing how much more writing Gaskell had accomplished and therefore how much of her writing lay yet unread ahead of

•

Elizabeth Gaskell

English novelist, biographer, and short story writer (1810–1865)

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (néeStevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), 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 first novel, Mary Barton, was published in 1848. Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë, published in 1857, was the first biography of Charlotte Brontë. In this biography, she wrote only of the moral, sophisticated things in Brontë's life; the rest she omitted, deciding certain, more salacious aspects were better kept hidden. Among Gaskell's best known novels are Cranford (1851–1853), North and South (1854–1855), and Wives and Daughters (1864–1866), all of which were adapted for television by the BBC.

Early life

Mrs. Gaskell was born Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson on 29 September 1810 in Lindsey Row, Chelsea, London, now 93 Cheyne Walk.^[1] The doctor who delivered her was

•

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Anne Brontë’s writings, and those of her sisters Emily and Charlotte Brontë as well. There are other writers who I love almost as much as the Brontë however, and foremost among them is a woman born Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson. She had a very interesting life, and wrote some incredible books such as Cranford and North And South, and of course the world knows her better as Elizabeth, or Mrs, Gaskell.

Gaskell is of particular interest to Brontë lovers because she not only knew the family, she wrote the world’s first Brontë biography – her wonderful ‘The Life Of Charlotte Brontë’ published in 1857. More on that later, but first let’s take a look at the woman herself.

She was born Elizabeth Stevenson in September 1810 in Cheyne Walk London, making her five and a half and nine and a half years older than Charlotte and Anne Brontë respectively. Gaskell (her married name, and by which I will refer to her from now on) had something in common with Anne that would influence both their lives – she lost her mo