Wives and Daughters

"She was a pioneer, multi-tasking mother... Gaskell's work will always be one of the adornments of liberal Britain" Guardian "My dear Scheherazade...I am sure your powers of narrative can never be exhausted in a single night, but must be good for at least a thousand nights and one" -- Charles Dickens "Her stories are wonderfully funny, but the ridiculous is bathed in a poignant, dreamlike mood found nowhere else in fiction, and profound ideas and strong values sleep beneath everyday details of bonnets and cakes" -- Jenny Uglow "People who read her always come away surprised at how modern she sounds. You don't have to think yourself into her century in order to sympathise, since her guiding principle was no more or less than a sense of practical, day-today justice, totally outside the abiding gentleman-lady-peasant-donkey-peasant's wife hierarchy which surrounded her" -- Zoe Williams Evening Standard "Pah! to Dickens. Eat your heart out, Little Nell. That Elizabeth Gaskell could write a death scene to make your socks melt" Scotsman

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810-1865) was an English author who wrote biographies, short stories, and novels. Because her work often depicted the lives of Victorian society, including the individual effects of the Industrial Revolution, Gaskell has impacted the fields of both literature and history. While Gaskell is now a revered author, she was criticized and overlooked during her lifetime, dismissed by other authors and critics because of her gender. However, after her death, Gaskell earned a respected legacy and is credited to have paved the way for feminist movements.