My Lady Ludlow

by Elizabeth Gaskell, Susannah York (Narrator)

Lady Ludlow is absolute mistress of Handbury Court and a resolute opponent of anything that might disturb the class system into which she was born. She will keep no servant who can read and write and insists that the lower orders have no rights, but only duties. But the winds of change are blowing through the village of Handbury. The Vicar, Mr. Gray, wishes to start a Sunday school for religious reasons; Mr. Horner wants to educate the citizens for economic reasons. But Lady Ludlow is not as rigid as one may think.
An Academy Victoria Classic.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Victorian, Historical Fiction, 19th Century, Historical, British Literature

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1858

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

[Magrat Ajostiernos · Rating 4 out of 5]

No será del gusto de todo el mundo pero a mi me ha ENCANTANDO este libro.
No puede ser más costumbrista; una anciana narra su niñez y juventud junto a Lady Ludlow, una aristócrata muy peculiar, con un fuerte sentido del honor y las tradiciones pero muy buen corazón. Esta historia esconde muchas otras, otros personajes y situaciones con las que Lady Ludlow se encontró en el pasado y vamos a ir conociendo.
Creo que es una novela con un encanto especial para los que disfrutemos de novelas de personajes y de otro tiempo tan distinto al nuestro que casi parece ciencia ficción.
Lady Ludlow, por sus ideales y despotismo, debería resultarnos un personaje desagradable, pero a pesar de la educación que recibió logra transmitir esa sensación de bondad que conquista a todos a su paso (incluidos los lectores).
Esta es una novela muy sencilla, que nadie espere la ironía de 'Cranford', el romance de 'Hijas y esposas' o la pasión de 'Norte y sur', esta es una historia plenamente costumbrista y nostálgica, para quienes disfrutamos de la palabra bien escrita y los personajes bien trazados.
Para mi ha sido una verdadera delicia.

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was told from the point of view of Margaret Dawson who, at the age of 16, was taken in by her distant cousin Lady Ludlow. During the course of this book we learn almost nothing about Margaret, except that she suffered from some physical infirmities. In many ways, Lady Ludlow was charitable and kind, but she was also unyielding in her belief that the lower classes should never be subjected to education of any kind. I can't stop being bothered by the fact that everyone in the town had to seek permission to make any improvements from one woman merely because she had "Lady" in front of her name. But such were the times.

This book was really missing the charm of "Cranford". Lady Ludlow's long, long story about the French Revolution really killed the book for me. I suppose this digression was intended to bolster her opinion that educating the masses was dangerous, but it was unbearably dull. The book never really got back on track for me after that. There were a few people in the town who interested me, but Lady Ludlow was not a compelling character at all.

The narration of the audiobook by Susannah York was quite good.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Lady Ludlow is a multi-layered set of vignettes that revolve around the title character, Lady Ludlow of Hanbury. The story is told by Margaret Dawson, a poor relation of Lady Ludlow, who has been taken in to spend her time as a kind of companion, but in the company of several other girls who have also been taken into the Lady’s protection.

What we grasp from the beginning is that Lady Ludlow is a kind, caring and refined person, who is rooted firmly in the past and not open in the least to any change in society or flexibility in the class structure. While the world is reshaping itself around her, she clings to the time when every peasant knew his place and the aristocracy was not questioned. While she seems intractable, she is amazingly aware of her responsibilities toward others, and the juggling of the two is what makes this novel tick.

One of the major threads running through the novel is her battle with Mr. Gray, the parson, regarding the education of the village children. He is for setting up a school, she is definitely not. In the process of defending her position, we get a sort of story within the story about the French Revolution. Our Lady plays a small part in this story, as it is mostly about a French nobleman who knew her son and what happened to him when the French bloodbath began. While we are never inclined to side with her against Mr. Gray, this story does help to explain her thought processes that lead her to be so stringent and provides a break from the ordinary life of the village.

As she did in Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell presents us with an overview of a life, a chance to glimpse how one life influences another in a village setting, and an opportunity to understand both the gentry and the upcoming middle class, who are breaking out from their control. I found it mostly delightful and at times quite sad. I liked Lady Ludlow, despite her antiquated view of life, and thought it very clever how she could reverse her opinion without ever having to admit she had done so.

A lovely break, and I think the last of the books upon which the Cranford tv series was based.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am trying hard to finish this book before a trip, but I must say it is slow going with the 64-page digression to tell a story from the French Revolution. Sixty-four pages. Digression. French Revolution.

Elizabeth Gaskell is impersonating Victor Hugo.

7/17 Update: Finished!!! I'll take my literary cred now, thank you. My full review will have to wait until I return from my trip, but I'll just say now that I have no idea what the point of this novel was. North and South and Wives and Daughters have likeable main characters and clear plotlines. This... this and Cranford were just kind of all over the place and wowzers were they hard to read.

7/29 Update: Here is the final review that went up on my blog. As you can see, my feelings towards this story did not grow softer with the passing of time. ;-)

"My Lady Ludlow is a story that I never could get behind. I don't understand the point of it, and the way Elizabeth Gaskell tried to impersonate Victor Hugo by going on a 64-page digression about the French Revolution did not help. Very little of the story I knew from the miniseries was there, and even the characters who had made it to the screen did not always have the same names. The plot involves a poor distant relation of Lady Ludlow looking back on her youth, when she lived with Lady Ludlow for a time. Although you could possibly pull out a theme or two, this mostly seemed like a collection of random, unconnected, and insipid narratives."

[Jaylia3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Lady Ludlow is one of the Elizabeth Gaskell books that the BBC miniseries Cranford is based on, and because the TV series used more than one of her novels the plots had to be altered so they could fit together. Seeing the series made me want to read what Gaskell wrote, and though sometimes it’s irritating when the book and screen version diverge, in this case reading the book was like indulging in a pleasant alternate reality. I had a little more time to spend with characters I had come to love, albeit in altered but recognizable forms. Probably it’s better to go from show to book rather than the other way around, because in the book Lady Ludlow’s high and mighty ways are softened and given more context, and if this book Lady Ludlow were met first the BBC portrait of her might cause indignation.

In both book and miniseries Lady Ludlow rules over her little village domain and is sure that education for the lower classes is a bad idea verging on blasphemy. It renders them unfit for the life they have been called to by God, and will surely bring on a reign of terror as horrifying as the French Revolution’s. She comes to see things differently, but in the TV series Lady Ludlow’s hand is forced, though she is graceful about it, and in the book changing circumstances lead her to eventually allow her naturally sympathetic nature to guide her actions.

[Laurel Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slim on plot but fat on character, and invaluable in the insight it gives to the times.

[Jassmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a reason why this book has such a poor rating, it's not going to be for everybody and I would be hesitant to recommend it to anyone. But as someone who loves Elizabeth Gaskell's writing and humor I really enjoyed this book, even though... I often wasn't quite sure what she was trying to get at.

This book is narrated by now old woman about her young years that she spent as one of the companions/wards of Lady Ludlow. The possitionality of the narrator quite reminded me of Cranford, but in reverse. In Cranford we have a narrator who is almost invisible to the reader it takes us time to learn her name and she only comes into the picture gradually. In My Lady Ludlow the book starts focusing on the protagonist, Margaret, whose father just died and she has to leave her family for Lady Ludlow, but then gradually she fades to the background, especially from the moment she becomes disabled.

The theme of disability is present throughout the whole book - we don't know what exactly happened to Margaret but we know that walking becomes painful to her and that it is only becoming worse, so she spends most of her days in a comfortable armchair. Later in the book Lady Ludlow hires a... person to manage her fields and he's a war veteran, ex-naval officer who lost his leg. Interestingly enough, he has a lot of struggles with his new profession, but none of those has anything to do with his leg and all to do with his lack of knowledge about farming. And in the last bit of the book, we learn that he married (I won't tell you who 😝). If we make gender focused analysis, it's telling though that the only disabled character that is fully successful (both in work and love life), as we know of, is the male character... just something to think about.

There is also the character of Miss Galindo who keeps hiring disabled servants or servants that no one else wants to hire (girl with consumption, little person, blind person etc.). It's a bit unclear what the reader is supposed to think about this, because I think it's definitely hinted that her choices are not economically sound, she is also portrayed as a kind woman with peppery temper. I think this bit sums it up well:

Her present maid was scarcely four feet high, and bore a terrible character for ill-temper. Nobody but miss Galindo would have kept her; but, as it was, mistress and servant squabbled perpetually, and were, at heart, the best of friends.

From nowadays perspective not ideal (and I have to point out that some of the terms used are today considered ableist, so take care if you are especially sensitive about this), but I think that the amount of disabled characters is astonishing and well-meant, so... I'm taking this positively.
There is more that I could talk about on this front, but... moving on!

This isn't a book about disability though, this is a book about education "of the masses". At the center of this book stands a dispute between the new pastor Mr Gray and Lady Ludlow about whether there should be school build in the village. As you can imagine Mr Gray is for the school while Lady Ludlow is strictly against. It's definitely interesting that the narrative places us beside Lady Ludlow, even though I think it's obvious that we are supposed to root for the school as well. What this book does is that it shows us the reasoning behind Lady Ludlow's distaste. Now, it does this in about 60 pages long digression which takes us to the times when Lady Ludlow was much younger and French revolution was raging on. The digression is obviously very melodramatic and tragic. And... thinking back at it, I actually think that it does a pretty good job at both gently poking fun at Lady Ludlow because the tale is kind of ridiculous, but also, it shows that people have reasons for their prejudices and that they are often based on a specific experience. The book is also very hopeful in a way, because if Lady Ludlow symbolises more conservative approach and Mr Gray more socially aware approach, Mr Gray wons several rounds over Lady Ludlow.

Thematically, this book was SO interesting to me, but it has to be said that structurally it's a bit of a mess. Especially the French revolution digression - even though I loved it, and then the ending kind of loses the focus again. I also think that I wasn't the only one that wanted something better for our narrator Margaret Dawson who... just kind of, you know, lives. And sadly doesn't marry Mr Gray.

I was absolutely prepared not to enjoy this at all because all of the negative reviews, but I actually really liked it. It's not always an easy read, but I thought it was pretty entertaining. Would recommend if you like Victorian literature, Gaskell's humour and don't require romance in your Victorian ventures. This probably is not the book to start with Gaskell, though - I would recommend North and South as a good starting point.

I listened to the audio available for free on LibriVox, it's collaborative narration which... I'm not fan of the changes and there was one narrator who had trouble pronouncing some of the French bits so it was a bit slow going, but... you know, it's free and still solid: https://librivox.org/my-lady-ludlow-b...

[Sotiris Karaiskos · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Elizabeth Gaskell's books that take a look at the British countryside of the first half of the 19th century, capturing in a humorous way the lives of the inhabitants and the way they were dealing with the social changes of the time. The interesting thing is that we see things from the side of the aristocracy, who is awkward to see the storm of changes coming in the early 19th century and the power to be slowly slipping from its hands. Its heroine, the widow of an aristocrat who has been left alone in the world, with the exception of her only son, who is living abroad, has deep conservative views and does whatever she can to prevent any substantial change by insisting on a mentality that has been overcome even by people of her class. She demands strict adherence to the rules governing relations between the social classes, seeing with particular suspicion anything that can make people violate them, even if this is the simple schooling that can bring new ideas to the poorest. Of course she does not think she's doing anything wrong, instead she thinks she's an ideal example of her class, and probably that's the reality for she is doing some of her traditional tasks like keeping her inferiors on her care to have a job, keeping them as good as possible in their health, forced them to be right Christians and to avoid heresies and above all to know their place and to not to question the social pyramid.

All these of her fears are explained by her narratives, which many times revolve around the French Revolution, which she considers the most tragic event of recent history and a warning about what can happen if they let people be educated and leave the new ideas to spread unchecked. One of these stories is also the culmination of the book, an emotional love story under the shadow of the darkest period of the French Revolution, when human life does not had much importance. I can say that this narrative is the one that made me look very sympathetic to the book as it gives a different tone, more touching, breaking a bit of its already quite interesting humorous nature. Of course this is the basis of its value, the prominent nagging of our heroine for the change in people's behaviour, her fear towards the new one, her insistence with the "good old days", all that are written with a very enjoyable way. In the end, of course, there is necessarily a form of compromise with the fact of progress and this is definitely the writer's message.

Ένα από τα βιβλία της Ελίζαμπεθ Γκάσκελ που ρίχνουν μία ματιά στη Βρετανική εξοχή του πρώτου μισού του δέκατου ένατου αιώνα καταγράφοντας με έναν χιουμοριστικό τρόπο τη ζωή των κατοίκων και τον τρόπο που αντιμετώπιζαν τις κοινωνικές αλλαγές της εποχής. Το ενδιαφέρον είναι ότι βλέπουμε τα πράγματα από την πλευρά της αριστοκρατίας που αμήχανη βλέπει την καταιγίδα των αλλαγών που έρχονταν στις αρχές του 19ου αιώνα και την εξουσία να χάνεται λίγο-λίγο μέσα από τα χέρια της. Η ηρωίδα του, η χήρα ενός αριστοκράτη που έχει μείνει μόνη στον κόσμο με εξαίρεση τον μοναδικό της γιο, που όμως και αυτός μένει μακριά, έχει βαθύτατες συντηρητικές απόψεις και κάνει ότι μπορεί για να εμποδίσει οποιαδήποτε ουσιαστική αλλαγή, επιμένοντας σε μία νοοτροπία που έχει ξεπεραστεί ακόμα και από ανθρώπους της τάξης της. Ζητάει να τηρούνται αυστηρά οι κανόνες που ρυθμίζουν τις σχέσεις μεταξύ των κοινωνικών τάξεων, βλέποντας με ιδιαίτερη καχυποψία οτιδήποτε μπορεί να κάνει τους ανθρώπους να τους παραβιάσουν, ακόμα και αν αυτό είναι η απλή σχολική εκπαίδευση που μπορεί να φέρει τις νέες αντιλήψεις στους φτωχότερους. Βέβαια η ίδια δεν θεωρεί ότι κάνει κάτι κακό, αντιθέτως πιστεύει ότι είναι ένα ιδανικό δείγμα της τάξης της και πιθανότατα αυτό είναι και η πραγματικότητα κάπως κάνει όλα τα παραδοσιακά της καθήκοντα που είναι να φροντίζει οι κατώτεροι της που είναι στην επίβλεψη της να έχουν δουλειά, να είναι όσο το δυνατόν καλύτερα στην υγεία τους, να είναι σωστοί χριστιανοί και να αποφεύγουν τις αιρέσεις και πάνω από όλα να γνωρίζουν τη θέση τους και να μην αμφισβητούν την κοινωνική πυραμίδα.

Όλοι αυτοί οι φόβοι της εξηγούνται μέσα από τις αφηγήσεις της οι οποίες πολλές φορές περιστρέφονται γύρω από τη Γαλλική Επανάσταση, την οποία θεωρεί το τραγικότερο γεγονός της πρόσφατης ιστορίας και μία προειδοποίηση για το τι μπορεί να συμβεί άμα αφήσουν τον λαό να μορφωθεί και αφήσουν τις νέες ιδέες να εξαπλωθούν ανεξέλεγκτα. Μία από αυτές τις αφηγήσεις αποτελεί και την κορύφωση του βιβλίου, μία τραγική ιστορία αγάπης κάτω από τη σκιά της πιο σκοτεινής περιόδου της Γαλλικής επανάστασης, όπου η ανθρώπινη ζωή δεν έχει και τόση πολλή σημασία. Μπορώ να πω ότι η συγκεκριμένη αφήγηση είναι και αυτή που με έκανε να δω περισσότερο συμπαθητικά το βιβλίο καθώς δίνει έναν διαφορετικό τόνο, περισσότερο συγκινητικό, σπάζοντας λίγο την ήδη αρκετά ενδιαφέρουσα χιουμοριστική φύση του. Φυσικά αυτό το τελευταίο είναι η βάση της αξίας του, η γκρίνια της πρωταγωνίστριας για την αλλαγή στη συμπεριφορά των ανθρώπων, η αμηχανία της απέναντι στο νέο που έρχεται, η επιμονή της με τις "παλιές καλές εποχές", όλα αυτά αποδίδονται με έναν πολύ απολαυστικό τρόπο. Στο τέλος, βέβαια, έρχεται αναγκαστικά μία μορφή συμβιβασμού με το γεγονός της προόδου και αυτό σίγουρα είναι στο τέλος και το μήνυμα της συγγραφέως.

[Palabras.desordenadas__ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bit of an odd story because it starts with characters who are vague at best and then we hear nothing about them until the very last paragraph. The story is told to the narrator who is in Edinburgh for treatment for an illness. The storyteller is an elderly, crippled woman named Margaret Dawson who lives with her doctor brother who is treating the young narrator (whose name I can’t remember!). The narrator visits Miss Dawson every Monday night and listens to her relate events from forty years before when she lived with Lady Ludlow for several years at Hanbury (a country house and village).

A lot of Margaret’s story is secondhand from the people around her at Lady Ludlow’s since she was confined to a sofa for much of the time as the result of an accident. All of the above means that the perspective of this novel/novella is oddly complex and convoluted. I can’t decide if the oddity in the perspective was intentional or if Gaskell was just in a hurry with the story. Perhaps the biography I’m reading of Gaskell now will spill the details.

Regardless, I thought this story was great fun once it settled into itself. It’s definitely more along the Cranford line with a village and its inhabitants and their small but fascinating lives. There is gossip and humor and a spinster and a poacher’s family and a dissenter’s family and, over it all, the very class conscious and yet surprisingly humble, kind, and open-minded Lady Ludlow. It’s rather a funny story in a way because Miss Dawson will make some hard-and-fast statement, like: “My Lady Ludlow never recognized illegitimate children” and then the next chapter will be about how Lady Ludlow comes to have an illegitimate young woman over for tea.

Despite Lady Ludlow’s occasional imperiousness which immediately made me want to gape at her, I could never dislike her for long. No sooner would she climb on her high horse about no education for the lower classes or the horror of schismatics (Baptists) then she would be climbing down to donate wool to the Vicar’s school or provide money for the poacher’s son’s education, etc. Lady Ludlow can never seem to stick to her blanket moral statements however hard she tries. Very amusing, very satisfying.

My other favorite character is Miss Galindo, one of those delightfully eccentric spinsters that are so often found in English novels. She is a hoot! She is a confirmed busybody but so friendly and warm and gossipy and well intentioned that it is impossible to dislike her. I might try to edge past her coming out of church on a Sunday to get home to my lunch, but I’d gladly have her over for a good tea time gossip.

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me this was the least enjoyable of the 3 books of Cranford chronicles. I had a hard time keeping with the story, but at least it was an audiobook that kept me going with something in the car. Happy to finish it...

[Kaion · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nuh-uh, Gaskell.

I love you, and I appreciate your beautiful soul for attempting to write a pro-progressive story from the perspective of a upper-class oppressor who starts out the story thinking that education "ruins" the lower classes.

But are you seriously going to make me sit through that tedious and never-ending French Revolution interlude and not even let poor Margaret Dawson get her a piece of that vicar Mr. Gray? That is not cool. Not cool, Elizabeth. Not cool.

On a happier note, this means I am now fully prepared to watch the Cranford series!

[Dee Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars
I enjoyed this audiobook book read by Suzannah York. Don't give up on this book. It's a charmer!
The only book I've ever read that included a vignette of French aristocracy living in England.

[~ Cheryl ~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Either I’m becoming a true Elizabeth Gaskell fan, or else each book in the Cranford 'collection' got progressively better, this one being the best.
Or maybe it’s both.


Just like in the small town of Cranford, here we see the happenings of the estate village of Hanbury through the eyes of an unobtrusive narrator, Margaret Dawson. She is a distant relative of the widowed noblewoman Lady Ludlow, who makes a habit of housing young “gentlewomen” in her estate home for a time until their prospects come to fruition. Margaret spends about three years at Hanbury Hall, and during that time the reader can sit back, get comfy, and get to know Lady Ludlow and some of the town’s inhabitants.

Lady Ludlow is a surprisingly complex and likeable character, despite how rigid and elitist she appears on the surface. Gaskell has a tender way of revealing her characters’ inner-workings – the stuff that makes them tick. I have also found (and enjoyed) in reading all three novellas, that Gaskell has a knack for pinpointing universal aspects of human nature. She comments on them here and there (George Elliot-style), but I’m not sure if she generally gets the credit she deserves for her witty and profound insights.

The one place this book suffered was a large section in the middle, where Lady Ludlow tells a loooooooong story to Margaret, about an aristocratic French family and their experiences during the Revolution. The point of this inset story-within-a-story(-within-a-story) was certainly relevant to the book as a whole, but it was unnecessarily long and detailed. It took up several chapters, and I almost bailed on the book altogether because of it. It’s a shame how it interrupts the flow of an otherwise engaging read. The revolution story is too tangential; it hardly seems part of the same book. At least now I know I can safely skip that section on future re-reads.

And re-read I shall.


A recap! ...now that I’ve read all three novellas:

Cranford: An isolated community of mostly women, living in “elegant economy,” who, despite the standing on ceremonies – (and their death-grip on the old ways of living) – display acts of true kindness and love for one another. They are there for each other when the chips are down.

Mr. Harrison’s Confessions: A comedy of manners; a humorous story of the mix-ups and gossip that ensue when a new doctor comes to establish a practice in a small English town.

My Lady Ludlow: Heart-warming, moving, and surprisingly humorous account of the later years of a widowed noblewoman, and her influence on an estate village and its inhabitants. Wonderful exploration of classes in society, as well as concepts of rights versus duties. Beautiful.


This entire collection warms my heart!




.

[Diana Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

A novella by Mrs.Gaskill. The more familiar I become with this author the more I love her writing. In this tale she takes us to the late 18th to early 19th century. It is a narrative of a older woman who relates back to a time she spent in her young life during a brief stay of a few years with an aristocratic Lady and her memories. I did realize a few facts I had not thought about before relating to the culture of this period of time. Highly recommend this read as well as her other novels and short stories.

[Lorri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the insights into upper-crust ethics and behaviors that carried over to the Regency period. I do not care for the episodic rather than plot-driven style, which jumps from one set of characters to another and from one time period to another. The whole novella is merely a loose character study of Lady Ludlow.

[Georgina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another marvellous set of character studies, filled with characters who are each worth a novel of their own. I never cease to be awed by the clear eyes that Gaskell uses to examine her world and its people. She is never cruel, but she allows her protagonists to reveal their own flaws, and the egregious societal flaws that govern their behaviour. Whilst firmly set in time and place, it has much to say that is pertinent.

[Madhulika Liddle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This somewhat erratic novel is told by several narrators, each narration nested inside the other. The first narrator, a young woman, visits Edinburgh with her father and is befriended by an elderly lady named Margaret Dawson. Margaret Dawson, during the long evenings her young friend spends in her company, talks of her younger days. As a teenager, and one with a family in very dire straits (her father had died and she had several other siblings), Margaret received an invitation to go and live with Lady Ludlow, a distant relative who had taken upon herself the responsibility of looking after a few other young relatives in straitened circumstances.

Thus begins Margaret Dawson’s recollection of her years with Lady Ludlow. The rise and fall in wealth and circumstances; the change in attitude. Changing relationships, unexpected alliances and the passage of years.

A large chunk in the middle of the book relates to an episode during the French Revolution, with an émigré rushing off to France to try and rescue the cousin whom he’s loved for several years now. As a brief vignette, the story of Clement and Virginie and Morin might have been interesting; at the length it is, going on for several chapters, it struck me as overlong. Was Gaskell trying to somehow fill up pages? It seems like it, because this very long episode has only the most tenuous of connections with the rest of the book.

The rest of My Lady Ludlow is however an interesting glimpse of rural life in the 1850s: the relation between landlord and tenant, landlord and parson; the antipathy to education; the fierce determination to uphold honour in all conditions. The characters, especially Lady Ludlow and Miss Gilando, are memorable, and there are moments that offer a good insight into human nature, its strengths and weaknesses and foibles, and most importantly, its resilience, its ability to adapt, to expand and change with circumstances. Its inherent goodness (yes, maybe Gaskell was being a bit optimistic here).

I just wish she had resisted the urge to go on and on about that unconnected French Revolution episode: it struck a discordant note in a novel that was otherwise coherent and quite readable, even if it wasn’t earth-shatteringly memorable.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Traveling, it does a 50-book challenge good.

This book definitely counts more than Dr. Harrison...but I may need a break for Gaskell. Her first person narratives are starting to wear thin.

This book focuses on the narrator who goes to live with her distant relative, Lady Ludlow. LL is a old-fashioned noble, with old-fashioned ideals and a strict adherence to the way "things should be." She is also a tragic figure who bore and lost many children. She is determined to help everyone in their neighborhood, but in her own way.

Although the narrator tells the story, she is by no means the main character. In fact, I can't actually remember her name. Instead the character that evolves is LL.

It would have been simpler, and more expected, for Gaskell to make LL villainous and unsympathetic in her prejudices--to set them up as points of mockery. But Gaskell never does.

Instead, she paints LL with a full range of colors, and its nice to watch her change through the story. However, I think the narrator, epistolary style lessens the effect and distracts from the story.

And I really miss Miss Mattie from Cranford.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notwithstanding its abrupt ending, My Lady Ludlow is another charming novella from Mrs. Gaskell! This one is rather a series of shorter tales, including a heart-rending sub-story from the French Revolution. Narrated by Margaret Dawson, a poor, distant cousin of the title character, the novella tells us what my Lady Ludlow was like, and in some cases, why she thought the way she thought. The separation of classes is a foreign idea to most Americans--myself included--but books like this one help show what it must be like.

I hear that My Lady Ludlow is part of the basis for the BBC drama Cranford, which I am curious to see.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe even a 2.5. It is rare that I don't enjoy Victorian lit--but this is one time I really didn't. The story was ridiculouly rambling and tangential; the characters were annoying (with the exception of Miss Galindo, who is supposed to be annoying and who I rather liked); the ending was too abrupt; and there didn't seem to be any point.

[Kelsey Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe more like 4.5 stars. I loved the beginning and end, but the middle kind of lost me.

My Lady Ludlow is one of Elizabeth Gaskell's richly character-driven novels that I will definitely be rereading (when I get around to such a thing as rereading books...).

[Charles Edwards-Freshwater · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of an odd one. The book starts off with our narrator moving into Hanbury with Lady Ludlow - a grand, old-fashioned widow who's clinging on to the past makes her quite dislikeable, despite Gaskell's best efforts to make her sympathetic. The story then quickly veers into quite a tense and depressing account of the French Revolution, revealing why Lady Ludlow holds certain values and the horrors that befell the people who were caught in the Terrors. Following this, we return back to sort of slight countryside politics and the matter of education among the lower classes back in the UK. So, fairly cohesive.

The problem is that I felt that the different parts of the story didn't particularly meld very well. While there is some Gaskell magic here (some of the characters are very charming), others are decidedly not and the narrative is quite dry in comparison to a number of her greater works.

It's still worth picking up if you are a Gaskell fan or want an interesting perspective on this time period, but it's ultimately not got the pizazz that makes many of her other works a lot more fun to read.

[Tuesdayschild · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐️ audiobook narrated by Susannah York.

Margaret tells the story of her widowed elderly relative, Lady Ludlow, who was the reigning force on her estate and in the local village. The old lady, though kind-hearted, doggedly holds to non-progressive opinions on so many social issues until a series of events, including the young, awkward, though unrelenting young clergyman Mr. Gray are instrumental in bringing a shift in attitude, action, and a change of heart in Lady Ludlow.
I didn’t mind the focus on the French Revolution in the middle of the book – I had Susannah York reading to me and her narration made the book easier to go through.
This book is nowhere near as good as Cranford, but I’m pleased I’ve been through it; and,
I did like the way Gaskell slipped in Harry Gregson and co to end the story.

Extra: Christian content. Very Victorian era opinions are aired in this story.

[Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a lovely reread. It is written in a similar style to Cranford and features in the Cranford BBC production. I really appreciated the change in Lady Ludlow through the book not in essence but in her opinions in this reading. Definitely a lovely comfort read for me.

[Lindenblatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like 'Cranford', you'll very likely enjoy 'My Lady Ludlow' as well.

A quiet feel-good story set in the small village of Hanbury. A number of good people with interesting backstories. Very well written, at times sad, at times funny, but always heartwarming.

[Stacy]

I enjoyed this as an audiobook. It’s slow and gentle, and part of the source material for the Cranford mini-series. A good cozy winter listen.

[Teri-K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this as much as the earlier two Cranford books, but that could be I wasn't in the right mood. Still worth reading after you've finished the first, and maybe next time I'll have more fun with it.

[Bre Teschendorf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed My Lady Ludlow. Some people criticize the book, because of Lady Ludlow's old-fashioned (narrow) thinking - and seem to feel that the author shares her views. I felt that the book was rather brilliantly written to very clearly criticize and poke holes in Lady Ludlow's world views without making her a tyrant. Any writer can make a villain of someone who thinks very differently than they do; it takes a special kind of grace to capture both the good and bad in a character, which is what made this book interesting and special.

I particularly enjoyed the long side story about the French revolution; maybe because we've been discussing it as a family recently. I don't know. I thought it was fascinating - even though the ending was obvious, almost from the start. I really dislike over-done foreshadowing and this was a classic case. (The description of the hero's mother and her "living -death" when he leaves for France... TOO MUCH!)

Only four stars because I didn't like that the narrator remains a total stranger for the entirety of the book. Also, there really isn't much action in this book. The story really could be more thrilling, to match the interesting characters.

But, as a peek into a long-gone society, its views (for better or for worse), and a way of life that is most difficult to comprehend - this is an excellent piece of literature. I felt like I learned a lot from it and I enjoyed the learning very much.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't praise Gaskell enough. Her writing style is so modern. She tells stories as from memory rather than chronologically. Her empathy for people from all classes is so evident in this book. She takes a controversial issue of the early 19th century, teaching children from the lower classes to read and write, and shows how it is viewed form all angles. Lady Ludlow is vehemently againdst it. The parson is vehemently for it. Gaskell shares a dramatic tale about the French revolution to explain Lady Ludlow's point of view. But the parson shows her the living conditions of the lower classes. Once she is faced with individual cases of impoverished people she must decide if her principals are perhaps misguided. You'll have to read the book to truly appreciate the wonderful Lady Ludlow!