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25,154 (31,477)803796 (3.9)174
Elizabeth Gaskell was born on September 29, 1810 to a Unitarian clergyman, who was also a civil servant and journalist. Her mother died when she was young, and she was brought up by her aunt in Knutsford, a small village that was the prototype for Cranford, Hollingford and the setting for numerous other short stories. In 1832, she married William Gaskell, a Unitarian clergyman in Manchester. She participated in his ministry and collaborated with him to write the poem Sketches among the Poor in 1837. Our Society at Cranford was the first two chapters of Cranford and it appeared in Dickens' Household Words in 1851. Dickens liked it so much that he pressed Gaskell for more episodes, and she produced eight more of them between 1852 and 1853. She also wrote My Lady Ludlow and Lois the Witch, a novella that concerns the Salem witch trials. Wives and Daughters ran in Cornhill from August 1864 to January 1866. The final installment was never written but the ending was known and the novel exists now virtually complete. The story centers on a series of relationships between family groups in Hollingford. Most critics agree that her greatest achievement is the short novel Cousin Phillis. Gaskell was also followed by controversy. In 1853, she offended many readers with Ruth, which explored seduction and illegitimacy that led the "fallen woman" into ostracism and inevitable prostitution. The novel presents the social conduct in a small community when tolerance and morality clash. Critics praised the novel's moral lessons but Gaskell's own congregation burned the book and it was banned in many libraries. In 1857, The Life of Charlotte Brontë was published. The biography was initially praised but angry protests came from some of the people it dealt with. Gaskell was against any biographical notice of her being written during her lifetime. After her death on November 12, 1865, her family refused to make family letters or biographical data available. (Bowker Author Biography) — biography from North and South… (more)
North and South 6,984 copies, 234 reviews
Cranford 4,287 copies, 125 reviews
Wives and Daughters 3,907 copies, 79 reviews
Mary Barton 2,557 copies, 65 reviews
The Life of Charlotte Brontë 1,415 copies, 20 reviews
Ruth 1,003 copies, 24 reviews
Gothic Tales 578 copies, 13 reviews
Sylvia's Lovers 565 copies, 12 reviews
Cranford / Cousin Phillis 370 copies, 8 reviews
The Cranford Chronicles 327 copies, 9 reviews
Cousin Phillis 247 copies, 11 reviews
Lois the Witch 177 copies, 6 reviews
Cranford and Other Stories 172 copies, 6 reviews
The Moorland Cottage 158 copies, 11 reviews
My Lady Ludlow 151 copies, 7 reviews
The Poor Clare 103 copies, 5 reviews
Mr. Harrison's Confessions 89 copies, 5 reviews
A Dark Night's Work (Author) 59 copies, 1 review
The Grey Woman and other Tales 41 copies, 2 reviews
The Half-Brothers 34 copies, 2 reviews
The Grey Woman 33 copies, 4 reviews
Lizzie Leigh 28 copies, 2 reviews
Round the Sofa 27 copies, 1 review
The Manchester Marriage 10 copies, 1 review
Uncle Peter 7 copies
Right at Last 7 copies, 1 review
Ruth - And Other Tales 6 copies, 1 review
Crowley Castle 4 copies, 1 review
French Life 3 copies
The Cage at Cranford 3 copies, 1 review
The Sexton's Hero 3 copies, 1 review
Morton Hall 3 copies, 1 review
The Heart of John Middleton 2 copies, 1 review
(all) 1 copy
Maldição 1 copy
Szara dama 1 copy
The Oxford Book of Victorian Ghost Stories (Contributor) 491 copies, 6 reviews
The Haunted House (Contributor) 359 copies, 15 reviews
Ghosts: A Treasury of Chilling Tales Old & New (Contributor) 312 copies, 2 reviews
The Fireside Book of Christmas Stories (Contributor) 271 copies, 3 reviews
Gothic Short Stories (Contributor) 228 copies, 1 review
A House to Let (Contributor) 190 copies, 8 reviews
The Portable Victorian Reader (Contributor) 173 copies
Great Stories of the Sea & Ships (Contributor) 161 copies
North and South [2004 TV mini series] (Original book) 148 copies, 1 review
The Virago Book of Ghost Stories (Contributor) 136 copies, 2 reviews
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories (Contributor) 119 copies, 1 review
The Penguin Book of Women's Humour (Contributor) 114 copies
Chilling Horror Short Stories (Contributor) 103 copies
Delphi Complete Works of Charles Dickens (Illustrated) (Contributor, some editions) 76 copies
Selected Stories from the 19th Century (Contributor) 66 copies, 1 review
The Twelve Frights of Christmas (Contributor) 61 copies, 2 reviews
Supernatural Horror Short Stories (Contributor) 59 copies
Delphi Complete Works of the Brontës (Contributor, some editions) 54 copies, 1 review
Victorian Love Stories: An Oxford Anthology (Contributor) 47 copies, 1 review
Return to Cranford [2009 TV series] (Original book) 44 copies
Women of the Weird: Eerie Stories by the Gentle Sex (Contributor) 40 copies, 2 reviews
65 Great Murder Mysteries (Contributor) 39 copies
The Moons at Your Door (Contributor) 39 copies, 1 review
Cranford [Oxford Bookworms] 38 copies, 2 reviews
Small Shadows Creep (Contributor) 31 copies
Stories To Get You Through The Night (Contributor) 31 copies
The Mystery Book (Contributor) 28 copies
Minor Hauntings: Chilling Tales of Spectral Youth (Contributor) 20 copies, 1 review
Great English Short Stories (Contributor) 20 copies, 1 review
Cuentos de amor victorianos (Contributor) 19 copies
Horror by Lamplight (Contributor) 17 copies
Dark Holidays: A Collection of Ghost Stories (Contributor) 13 copies, 1 review
The Cold Embrace: Weird Stories by Women (Contributor) 12 copies, 1 review
Shapes of the Supernatural (Contributor) 11 copies, 1 review
More ghosts and marvels (Contributor) 7 copies
An Adult's Garden of Bloomers (Contributor) 7 copies
The Trials of Love (Contributor) 6 copies
Evergreen Stories (Contributor) 5 copies
Famous stories of five centuries (Contributor) 4 copies
Best of Women's Short Stories, Volume I (Contributor) 4 copies, 1 review
The Anthology of Love and Romance (Contributor) 4 copies
Wigilia Pełna Duchów (Contributor) 3 copies
North and South [1975 TV miniseries] (Original book) 3 copies
December Tales (Contributor) 3 copies
Short Stories of the Past (Contributor) 2 copies
Classic British Short Stories (Contributor) 2 copies

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Elizabeth Gaskell's book Ghostly Tales was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

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