I agreed with you COMPLETELY that Gaskell is criminally underrated. North and South is one of my favorites, although I suspect that if Wives and Daughters had been finished, it would rank higher. The W&D audiobook is narrated by Prunella Scales of Fawlty Towers fame, and is utterly excellent.

Ah, how lovely to find more Gaskell fans. A delightful writer, she has such a knack of creating completely credible character (how's that for alliteration? Snort.) transformation, that as a writer I'm just a wee bit jealous. I've been a fan since I first read CRANFORD as a young girl.

So glad to find more Gaskell enthusiasts here!