The Complete Novels of Elizabeth Gaskell: 10 Victorian Classics: Mary Barton, The Moorland Cottage, Cranford, Ruth, North and South, ... Work, My Lady Ludlow & Cousin Phillis

The Greatest Writers of All Time #29

by Elizabeth Gaskell, George du Maurier (Illustrator), C.E. Brocks (Illustrator)

This collection includes 10 classics by this notable Victorian author, whose novels shown brutal and detailed portraits of lives of the poor, the orphans and the working class people in mid Victorian England.
"Mary Barton" is set in the English city of Manchester and deals with the difficulties faced by the Victorian working class.
"The Moorland Cottage" – Maggie Browne, a daughter of a deceased clergyman, is asked to give up her future and sacrifice herself for the good of her selfish brother.
"Cranford" – Marry Smith, likes to remember the stories of Cranford's illustrious citizens, sympathetically portraying transformation of a small town customs and values.
"Ruth" – A young orphan girl gets a job at a ball to repair torn dresses. There she meets a handsome aristocrat and falls in love, but instead of living happily ever after, she ends up abandoned and pregnant.
"North and South" – Margaret Hale's family settles in Milton where she witnesses the brutal world wrought by the Industrial Revolution, seeing employers and workers clashing in the first strikes.
"Sylvia's Lovers" is a sad story of love and betrayal set in the time of Napoleonic Wars.
'Wives and Daughters" – An attractive Molly Gibson gets send away from home as she arouses interest of her father's associates. But when she falls in love, her loved one chooses her step sister.
"A Dark Night's Work" is a story of a country lawyer, Edward Wilkins, who tries to live a rich life like his clients, but ends up in debt, and eventually commits a crime.
"My Lady Ludlow" recounts the daily lives of the widowed Countess of Ludlow of Hanbury and the spinster Miss Galindo, and their caring for other single women and girls.
"Cousin Phillis" – A 19-year-old Paul Manning moves to the country and befriends his mother's family and his cousin Phillis, who is confused by her own placement at the edge of adolescence.
"Mrs. Gaskell and Knutsford" is a biography of Elizabeth Gaskell.

Genres: Classics, Ebooks, Collections

4007 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 14, 2012

About the author

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née 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 as such are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature.

AKA:
Елізабет Гаскелл (Ukrainian)

Reviews

[Cookie M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the novels contained herein, my favorites were 'North and South, " "Cranford," and " Wives and Daughters, " all reviewed under the individual titles.
I enjoyed reading this 19th Century British author who has mostly been forgotten by popular literature.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read the entire Gaskell collection, I’ve read Wives and Daughters, Cranford and Mary Barton.

It is Mary Barton that this review concerns.
4.25
I enjoyed Gaskell’s first published novel. There were strong social themes of class inequality and the working poor, this felt reminiscent of Dickens. I question why there was a strong focus on death. Perhaps the conditions of the poor caused excessive death?
I enjoyed the novel more than Cranford but not as much as Wives and Daughters. MB seemed to fizzle out a bit at then end.

[Ricki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, took me ages to read though in all fairness I read lots of books in between when I had periodically had enough of the style, subject matter and time. She was very good on local colour and descriptions, local dialect or accent as well as social structures. All in all the books were good reads, perhaps a bit heavily written for modern audiences - they are certainly of their time. But- they are definitely worth reading.

[Critical Sandwich]

I sometimes do "randomizer pick" when choosing my next read, and I DON'T have classics books by big authors on goodreads TBR (cuz otherwise my TBR would be ~200 books higher), so I put a few of these "Complete Works" onto TBR so they'd have a chance to be chosen by randomizer, but I'd still have the freedom to choose whatever work.

[frankbolles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional

Truth and mercy combined as the Good Book reveals if we read its pages.
Fully suggest reading it for our generation.

[Mildred T. Honeycutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good reads!

These books were hard to Put down! Don't start reading at night because you will want to continue. Each book was really good.

[Joanna Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful stories of complex and interesting characters.

Beautiful stories of complex and interesting characters. I enjoyed them all.
Mrs Gaskell's novels are wonderfully written and easy to read.

[Lisa]

North and South
Start: January 24, 2015