Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

The narrator, Miss Greatorex, is invited to join a party of friends who meet on a weekly basis 'round the sofa' in Mrs Dawson's house. When Mrs Dawson mentions her cousin Lady Ludlow, Miss Greatorex wants to find out more about her and the storytelling begins. Round the Sofa is not really a story. It is a vehicle to contain short stories. The narrator is invited to the home of a sickly invalid for weekly gatherings where each person in the circle takes turns telling a story. Round the Sofa is not really a story. It is a vehicle to contain short stories. The narrator is invited to the home of a sickly invalid for weekly gatherings where each person in the circle takes turns telling a story. The first short story is "My Lady Ludlow" which I'd already read, but listening to it here gives context to who the narrator is and helps to give context to the story. The next story is "An Accursed Race" which is really and academic history of a persecuted people called the Cagots. I have no idea who these people are and still don't after reading this story except that they lived in Europe and were ill treated in similar ways to Jews or other minorities. The third story is "The Doom of the Griffiths". A curse follows that Griffiths family in which the son of the 8th generation is supposed to kill his father. The way in which the curse is realized is well told. The fourth story is "Half a Life-Time Ago" is the story of Susan who in her youth has a chance for love, but must give it up to care for her family. She ends up old and lonely, but has amassed riches which ultimately bless others. The fifth story is "The Poor Clare" which tells the story of a supposed witch. The narrator discovers her history and the origin of a curse she places. The story explores how bitterness can canker our soul, but forgiveness can liberate. The final story is "The Half-Brothers" tells of two brothers - one who is loved and spoiled and the other who is misunderstood and poorly treated. It tells of an act of selfless love. Overall, I enjoyed the stories. Some are better than others, but Gaskell proves that she is incredible at writing characters who are believable and situations that tug at one's emotions Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, (n e Stevenson, 29 September 1810 - 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of society, including the very poor, and are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature. Her first novel, Mary Barton, was published in 1848. Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bront , published in 1857, was the first biography about Bront . Some of Gaskell's best known novels are Cranford (1851-53), North and South (1854-55), and Wives and Daughters (1865). Gaskell was born Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson on 29 September 1810 at 93 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. She was the youngest of eight children; only she and her brother John survived infancy. Her father, William Stevenson, was a Scottish Unitarian minister at Failsworth, Lancashire, but resigned his orders on conscientious grounds and moved to London in 1806 with the intention of going to India after he was appointed private secretary to the Earl of Lauderdale, who was to become Governor General of India. That position did not materialise, however, and instead Stevenson was nominated Keeper of the Treasury Records. His wife, Elizabeth Holland, came from a family from the English Midlands that was connected with other prominent Unitarian families, including the Wedgwoods, the Martineaus, the Turners and the Darwins. When she died 13 months after giving birth to her youngest daughter, she left a bewildered husband who saw no alternative for Elizabeth but to be sent to live with her mother's sister, Hannah Lumb, in Knutsford, Cheshire

The narrator, Miss Greatorex, is invited to join a party of friends who meet on a weekly basis 'round the sofa' in Mrs Dawson's house. When Mrs Dawson mentions her cousin Lady Ludlow, Miss Greatorex wants to find out more about her and the storytelling begins. Round the Sofa is not really a story. It is a vehicle to contain short stories. The narrator is invited to the home of a sickly invalid for weekly gatherings where each person in the circle takes turns telling a story. Round the Sofa is not really a story. It is a vehicle to contain short stories. The narrator is invited to the home of a sickly invalid for weekly gatherings where each person in the circle takes turns telling a story. The first short story is "My Lady Ludlow" which I'd already read, but listening to it here gives context to who the narrator is and helps to give context to the story. The next story is "An Accursed Race" which is really and academic history of a persecuted people called the Cagots. I have no idea who these people are and still don't after reading this story except that they lived in Europe and were ill treated in similar ways to Jews or other minorities. The third story is "The Doom of the Griffiths". A curse follows that Griffiths family in which the son of the 8th generation is supposed to kill his father. The way in which the curse is realized is well told. The fourth story is "Half a Life-Time Ago" is the story of Susan who in her youth has a chance for love, but must give it up to care for her family. She ends up old and lonely, but has amassed riches which ultimately bless others. The fifth story is "The Poor Clare" which tells the story of a supposed witch. The narrator discovers her history and the origin of a curse she places. The story explores how bitterness can canker our soul, but forgiveness can liberate. The final story is "The Half-Brothers" tells of two brothers - one who is loved and spoiled and the other who is misunderstood and poorly treated. It tells of an act of selfless love. Overall, I enjoyed the stories. Some are better than others, but Gaskell proves that she is incredible at writing characters who are believable and situations that tug at one's emotions Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, (n e Stevenson, 29 September 1810 - 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of society, including the very poor, and are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature. Her first novel, Mary Barton, was published in 1848. Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bront , published in 1857, was the first biography about Bront . Some of Gaskell's best known novels are Cranford (1851-53), North and South (1854-55), and Wives and Daughters (1865). Gaskell was born Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson on 29 September 1810 at 93 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. She was the youngest of eight children; only she and her brother John survived infancy. Her father, William Stevenson, was a Scottish Unitarian minister at Failsworth, Lancashire, but resigned his orders on conscientious grounds and moved to London in 1806 with the intention of going to India after he was appointed private secretary to the Earl of Lauderdale, who was to become Governor General of India. That position did not materialise, however, and instead Stevenson was nominated Keeper of the Treasury Records. His wife, Elizabeth Holland, came from a family from the English Midlands that was connected with other prominent Unitarian families, including the Wedgwoods, the Martineaus, the Turners and the Darwins. When she died 13 months after giving birth to her youngest daughter, 1] she left a bewildered husband who saw no alternative for Elizabeth but to be sent to live with her mother's sister, Hannah Lumb, in Knutsford, Cheshire...

Mary Barton is the first novel by English author Elizabeth Gaskell, published in 1848. The story is set in the English city of Manchester between 1839 and 1842, and deals with the difficulties faced by the Victorian lower class. It is subtitled "A Tale of Manchester Life".

The tragic tale of a young woman caught between the attractions of two very different men. England is at war with France, and press gangs are seizing young men for service. Charley Kinraid, a whaling harpooner who captured the heart of Sylvia Robson, was one of their victims. After her true love is believed to have perished at sea, Sylvia seeks stability in a loveless arranged marriage to her devoted cousin, Philip Hepburn. But her husband deliberately withholds crucial information-with devastating consequences.

Dans certaine ville de certain comt vivait, il y a quelque quarante ans, un jurisconsulte nomm Wilkins. Il y exer ait cette profession sp ciale qui est d sign e sous le nom de conveyancing attorney. C'est un peu l'avou , un peu le notaire, un peu l'avocat consultant, bref, un l giste tout faire qui cumule les b n fices de plusieurs sp cialit s ailleurs distinctes. Le comt n' tait point fort tendu, la ville ne comptait gu re plus de quatre mille habitants, mais comme la client le de M. Wilkins se recrutait, dans un rayon de vingt milles, chez presque toutes les familles nobles, son cabinet, fond par son grand-p re, am lior par son p re, lui donnait d'assez amples produits, et le pla ait sur un tr s bon pied de confiance amicale vis- -vis des principaux personnages du pays. Sans tre positivement des leurs, il tait trop avant dans les secrets de leur existence pour n' tre pas accueilli chez eux, admis leur table, - sans sa femme, cela va de soi, - et m me invit leurs chasses quand un hasard plus ou moins pr m dit l'amenait, cheval, sur le chemin de leurs meutes.

Que d'angles dans cette mansarde Un g om tre y e t retrouv toutes les figures du cours le plus complet, mais c' tait mon premier domicile de libre gar on, et j'en pris possession avec un orgueil, une joie indicibles. Mon p re l'avait choisie en bon air, donnant sur la place du march , au-dessus d'une boutique de p tisserie tenue par deux antiques demoiselles, comme nous de la secte des ind pendants, avec l'arri re-pens e que ma conduite et mes principes religieux seraient s v rement contr l s par les misses Dinah et Hannah Dawson, en compagnie de qui je devais prendre mes repas. Lui-m me, faisant tr ve ses obstin s travaux et endossant pour la premi re fois, je crois, son habit des dimanches un jour ouvrable, tait venu me pr senter au patron sous les ordres duquel je devais d buter.

The Moorland CottageElizabeth GaskellNovellas and CollectionsElizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, n e Stevenson (29 September 1810 -- 12 November 1865), often referred to simply as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of society, including the very poor, and are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature. Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Bronte, published in 1857, was the first biography of that author.'If you take the turn to the left, after you pass the lyke-gate at Combehurst Church, you will come to the wooden bridge over the brook; keep along the field-path which mounts higher and higher, and, in half a mile or so, you will be in a breezy upland field, almost large enough to be called a down, where sheep pasture on the short, fine, elastic turf. You look down on Combehurst and its beautiful church-spire. After the field is crossed, you come to a common, richly colored with the golden gorse and the purple heather, which in summer-time send out their warm scents into the quiet air. The swelling waves of the upland make a near horizon against the sky; the line is only broken in one place by a small grove of Scotch firs, which always look black and shadowed even at mid-day, when all the rest of the landscape seems bathed in sunlight. The lark quivers and sings high up in the air; too high -- in too dazzling a region for you to see her. Look she drops into sight; but, as if loth to leave the heavenly radiance, she balances herself and floats in the ether. Now she falls suddenly right into her nest, hidden among the ling, unseen except by the eyes of Heaven, and the small bright insects that run hither and thither on the elastic flower-stalks. With something like the sudden drop of the lark, the path goes down a green abrupt descent; and in a basin, surrounded by the grassy hills, there stands a dwelling, which is neither cottage nor house, but something between the two in size. Nor yet is it a farm, though surrounded by living things. It is, or rather it was, at the time of which I speak, the dwelling of Mrs. Browne, the widow of the late curate of Combehurst. There she lived with her faithful old servant and her only children, a boy and girl. They were as secluded in their green hollow as the households in the German forest-tales. Once a week they emerged and crossed the common, catching on its summit the first sounds of the sweet-toned bells, calling them to church. Mrs. Browne walked first, holding Edward's hand.'

Elizabeth Gaskell was a British author during the Victorian era, and her novels are notable for detailed descriptions of the different classes of society in 19th century Britain.

Elizabeth Gaskell was a British author during the Victorian era, and her novels are notable for detailed descriptions of the different classes of society in 19th century Britain.