Showing results by author "Elizabeth Gaskell" in All Categories

Almost always when we think of Ghost Stories, we first think of those written by the Victorians. Whatever the reasons given or proffered the reality and known facts are that if you want a really good ghost story to bring that edge of chill, that foreboding of dread, that feeling that in an empty house we are not quite alone and that sometimes the sharp, sheer shock of what just happened is upon us then look no further than ‘The Victorian Ghost Story’ for your listening pleasure.

Elizabeth Gaskell highlights the difference between the middle and working classes in this tale set in the time of the Industrial Revolution. A largely autobiographical story, she also highlights the good that each group can do for each other, and the friendships and understandings that can blossom between two seemingly irreconcilable means and modes of life. Gaskell shows her great love of people, and of love itself, in this touching and enlightening tale.

The Best of Women's Short Stories, Volume 2 is a celebration of iconic female writers from the 19th and 20th centuries; featuring eight full-length stories relating the many experiences and complexities of womanhood. This collection brings together stories by Katherine Mansfield, Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Gaskell, Kate Chopin and Jane Austen.

Presenting an audio anthology of Victorian ghost stories to chill you to the bone this holiday season.

Escape into the idyllic world of 'The Moorland Cottage' with this enchanting audiobook. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, celebrated for her rich storytelling, brings to life a tale of love, loss, and the resilience of the human spirit. Set in the picturesque English countryside, this story unfolds against the backdrop of the moorlands, creating a vivid and captivating setting for the characters and their intertwining destinies. Gaskell's impeccable character development and her ability to evoke the rural beauty and its challenges make 'The Moorland Cottage' a timeless classic.

Christmas is the perfect time to curl up with a good story, and this cracking collection brings you 30 wonderfully diverse tales inspired by this most special of seasons. From Santa Claus, gift-giving and family gatherings, to an unexpected encounter in a snowstorm and an alternative take on the Nativity, they're sure to get you in the festive mood.

In this volume we examine Gothic short stories from the woman’s point of view. More usually in this genre the main examples are almost always given as male. Well, in this volume we prove that view needs severely testing. Here we explore works by classic women authors who, with the sheer breadth of their talents and narratives, can make mere men seem tame by comparison.

The eleven stories in this Gaskell collection illustrate the author’s mastery in capturing the innate drama that is present even in the most mundane situations.

Welcome, dear listener, to The Elizabeth Gaskell Library, a quiet corner of the airwaves devoted to the pleasure of unhurried reading. Here you will find the novels and tales of Mrs Gaskell - stories of bustling mills and peaceful parlours, of steadfast friendships, small kindnesses, and hearts tested by circumstance.Wander through the smoky streets of Milton and sit awhile in the drawing rooms of Cranford, this podcast offers a moment’s refuge from the noise of modern life. Settle in with a cup of tea, and let each story unfold as it once did: patiently, thoughtfully, and in good company.

"North and South" is a social novel by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. She uses a protagonist from southern England to present and comment on the perspectives of both mill owners and mill workers in an industrializing city. "North and South" is set in the fictional industrial town of Milton in the North of England. Forced to leave her home in the tranquil rural south, Margaret Hale settles with her parents in Milton where she witnesses the brutal world wrought by the industrial revolution and employers and workers clashing in the first organized strikes.

Delve into the poignant world of Ruth, a social novel that explores the Victorian attitudes towards sin and illegitimacy. This surprisingly compassionate tale focuses on Ruth Hilton, a young seamstress and orphan who faces the harsh realities of society after being seduced and abandoned by the gentleman Henry Bellingham. Alone and pregnant, Ruth finds refuge with a kind minister and his sister, who help her navigate the stigma of her situation by masquerading her as a widow. As she strives to build a respectable life as a governess, her past threatens to unravel everything when Bellingham ...

When her father remarries, the honest, innocent Molly Gibson suddenly finds herself with a new stepsister, Cynthia, who is beautiful, worldly and impetuous. This would be more than enough to deal with, but the new wife is the deeply snobbish (and darkly secretive) Hyacinth. Thwarted love, scheming ambition and small-town gossip underlie the warmth, irony and brilliant social observation which link the relationships and the inevitable conflicts as profound change comes to rural England.

Molly Gibson is a young girl who has been raised by her widowed father. During a visit to the local aristocratic "great house" of Lord and Lady Cumnor, she loses her way in the estate and falls asleep under a tree. When she wakes up, she gets distressed at the thought of spending the night at the mansion, but to her relief, her father arrives to collect her. Seven years later, Molly is an attractive and rather unworldly young woman, which arouses the interest of one of her father's apprentices.

"Cranford" is the best-known novel of the 19th century English writer Elizabeth Gaskell. It was first published in 1851 as a serial in the magazine "Household Words", which was edited by Charles Dickens.

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865) was a writer, a minister’s wife, and mother of four daughters who worked among the poor and traveled widely. In the novel The Moorland Cottage, Maggie Browne, the daughter of a deceased clergyman, gives up her own life to devote herself to her brother, Edward. The nonfiction work An Accused Race is Gaskell’s reformist treatise on the oppression of the Cagots in Europe.

Love has many forms, many needs. Some fall into the dark, into the shadows. Forbidden love has connotations of desire, of possession but also of matters far more unsavoury. It’s a delicate facet of love that our classic authors explain with careful words and superbly crafted narratives.

Elizabeth Gaskell’s Lizzie Leigh is the sad tragedy of a young girl, who, while being away from home for work in Manchester, commits the sin of adultery and becomes pregnant with an illegitimate child. She decides not to return home for fear of her harsh father’s reaction. Not knowing whether her daughter is still alive, her mother decides to take her two sons and go to Manchester to look for her. The narrative then follows Lizzie’s poignant existence, as she tries to purge her soul from sin.

The tale of a rural habitation in the late 19th Century and the effect of industrialisation on the local community.Seventeen year old Phillis lives on Hope Farm with her parents Minister Ebenezer Holman and his simple wife. Her second cousin Paul Manning, at first reluctantly, comes to visit. He is the son of a rising inventor from Birmingham and is employed as a clerk to Edward Holdsworth, the managing engineer of a railway company laying a line close to the farm.

Ghost stories from the golden age. Six great writers weave their spell in creepy, insidious style.

Cousin Phillis is considered one of the finest examples of "the short story". Focusing on the unexpected friendship between seventeen year old Paul Manning and his second cousin Phillis Holman the story is simple and uncomplicated. Its true beauty is in the gentle unfolding and narrative style that Gaskell employs so well.