Cranford (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)
Cranford is a humorous account of a nineteenth-century English village dominated by a group of genteel but modestly circumstanced women. By eschewing the conventional marriage plot with its nubile heroines and focusing instead on a group of middle-aged and elderly spinsters, Elizabeth Gaskell did...
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Cranford is a humorous account of a nineteenth-century English village dominated by a group of genteel but modestly circumstanced women. By eschewing the conventional marriage plot with its nubile heroines and focusing instead on a group of middle-aged and elderly spinsters, Elizabeth Gaskell did something highly unusual within the novel genre. Through her masterful management of the novel's tone, she underscores the value and dignity of single women's lives even as she causes us to laugh at her characters' foibles. Charles Dickens was the first of many readers to extol its wit and charm, and it has consistently been Gaskell's most popular work.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780760795989 (0760795983)
Publish date: January 9th 2006
Publisher: Barnes & Noble
Pages no: 179
Edition language: English
"Although the ladies of Cranford know all each other's proceedings, they are exceedingly indifferent to each other's opinions ... but, somehow, good-will reigns among them to a considerable degree." That passage from the first chapter of Cranford is actually a pretty good summation of what we lear...
'Cranford' is more a series of recollections and trains-of-thoughts than a properly structured novel, and yet I couldn't ask for a more satisfying story. Mary Smith's visits to the village of Cranford, which "[i]n the first place, is in possession of the Amazons...", are full of affection and rife w...
Very episodic, loose, I can well imagine it indeed was a great TV series material, but not as pleasant (to me) to read. Interesting profiling of genteel poerty among women.
One of my favourite books :) The book falls in the category of things that bring back faith in humankind. The protagonist of the book is Mary Smith and her friend Miss Matty Jenkyns. Mary Smith basically tells what happens during numerous visits to Cranford over the span of quite a lot of years. T...
A charming, comfortable series of stories that unfold in the quiet town of Cranford, mostly in the homes of spinsters who practice great economies to maintain genteel appearances. The narrator pokes very gentle fun at her Cranford friends and their airs and social rules, but it becomes clear that th...
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 by Elizabeth Gaskell, Tess O'Toole, now listed on BookLikes)