January 2024: Elizabeth Gaskell

We are opening the year with one of the big names of the Victorian era: Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865).

Out of her 8 novels, her most popular ones are North and South (her 4th ) and Cranford (her second). She also wrote non-fiction (such as The Life of Charlotte Brontë - if one is inclined to connect the current author with one of the last ones of 2023)) and stories.

What do you plan to read?

I have a 5 volumes set of her novels (the two above plus Ruth, Mary Barton and Sylvia's Lovers) glaring at me from my shelves so I suspect I will pick one of them at random (although I had been curious about her short fiction as well so who knows).

I will probably read Wives and Daughters. I have read and enjoyed Mary Barton and North and South but found Cranford rather tedious.

I also enjoyed her novella Mr Harrison's Confessions

Ruth also sounds interesting.

I'm leading my RL Book club this month in a discussion of North and South. It will be a re-read for me.

If time permits, I want to read Sylvia Lovers, which along with Wives and Daughters, are the 2 Gaskell novels I haven't read yet.

For anyone interested in a shorter work, I've enjoyed the novellas The Moorland Cottage and Cousin Phillis.

Speaking of North and South, there is an excellent BBC TV miniseries from 2004 starring Richard Armitage, Daniela Denby-Ashe, Sinead Cusack, Lesley Manville, Tim Piggott-Smith and Brendan Coyle. Some plot points are changed and new material added, but overall it is very true to Gaskell's book.

>4 kac522: I loved that adaptation too.

ill be reading wives and daugthers

>2 john257hopper: I just realised Wives and Daughters is nearly 1000 pages on my e-reader, even though an uncompleted novel. Not sure if I can face that. I'll either try Ruth or one of her shorter works.

I tried to read it on kindle (didn't realise it was so long!) and rather bored by the writing, so ill choose something else

>7 john257hopper: I've read Wives and Daughters and rated it 3.5, with Cranford and North and South coming in at 4 stars.

Since I did an October read of 5 Gaskell works, I'll pass on this one, but have my Shaw chosen for February.

Started Mary Barton last evening, and already know I will enjoy it.

Well I read Cousin Phillis and was a little disappointed by it. This novella has apparently been described by many critics as the author's crowning achievement in short fiction. I personally preferred Mr Harrison's Confession, though I can see why this more serious work is generally rated more highly. It is well written and presents a good portrayal of life on the Holman farm. But I found it curiously unemotionally engaging. It ended quite suddenly and I thought it felt almost more like a novel fragment than a novella. I discovered subsequently that further parts were planned but never written.

I own the Cranford DVD and I'm watching it for the third time and still enjoying it.

Finished Mary Barton earlier this week. Happy to have read it.

I finished a re-read of North and South for my book club. The discussion went pretty well. W hat I noticed this time was all the points in the book where a character makes an ethical decision or a decision of conscience of some sort.

Yesterday I read two short stories:

"The Manchester Marriage" (1858) concerns Mrs. Frank Wilson, a shy young widow who is "wooed" by Mr Openshaw, a stiff Manchester business man. His romantic proposal (from behind a newspaper): "Mrs Frank, is there any reason why we two should not put up our horses together?" She eventually accepts. This story starts out rather humorous, but when the couple move to London, darker events occur, where Mr Openshaw's good heart is revealed.

"Mr Harrison's Confessions" (1851) is a longer story (about 80 pages) and concerns a new young doctor in town. As he settles in, it becomes apparent that 3 slightly older women believe he has feelings for them, while Mr Harrison only has eyes for the vicar's daughter. The confusion is funny, but the story takes a more serious turn when the doctor faces real medical emergencies.

These were delightful and moving, and show Gaskell's knack for easily interweaving humor and sadness into her stories.