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Review
'Bathed in a poignant, dreamlike mood found nowhere else in fiction' Guardian
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Book Description
Part of "Penguin's" beautiful hardback "Clothbound Classics" series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. Gaskell's best known work is set in a small rural town, inhabited largely by women. This is a community that runs on cooperation and gossip, at the very heart of which are the daughters of the former rector: Miss Deborah Jenkyns and her sister Miss Matty. But domestic peace is constantly threatened in the form of financial disaster, imagined burglaries, tragic accidents, and the reappearance of long-lost relatives.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE QUIET PSYCHE OF VICTORIAN ANGLIA,
By NeuroSplicer (Freeside, in geosynchronous orbit) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Cranford (Paperback)
I bought this for my wife - but, after we both greatly enjoyed the BBC-1 miniseries, I ended up reading it myself as well. Compared to the miniseries, as expected, the book expands into more details and can be savored in many more levels.Sometimes escapism may require an action page-turner. Other times the same effect can be achieved by a slow novel about middle-aged women and their daily troubles. Pettiness and kindness, age and genders, nobles and lowborn, progress and tradition, all come together and weave the tapestry of rural middle England of the 1840's. RECOMMENDED!
5.0 out of 5 stars
What Cranford means to me,
By Engage Books "Engage Books" (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cranford (AD Classic) (Paperback)
Cranford started out not as a novel, but as a series of related stories published in Household Words, a magazine published by Charles Dickens.Cranford is unusual because it focuses on a world where there is no room for men, and where marriage is considered more of a nuisance than a blessing. The few male characters appearing in this novel are generally regarded either with suspicion or scorn. The bulk of the novel focuses on the life of Miss Matty Jenkyns, an aging spinster who takes in a frequent guest from a nearby town: unmarried Mary, who narrates the story. Miss Matty lives in the small town of Cranford, which is full of unmarried or widowed women. If a man moves into town, he somehow disappears. These women live quite happily in each other's society and are genteel despite their uncertain finances. The novel is full of gossip and intrigues - ways for the Cranford women to spend their time since it isn't occupied by other things. Of course, in this remarkable little world of the Cranford ladies, something eventually must happen to one of their own. Miss Matty's bank goes under, and she finds herself bankrupt, deprived of the 127 pounds per annum that she had to live on. She takes it all in stride, but the other ladies of Cranford get together to help her in a very touching way that allows Miss Matty to maintain her lifestyle. Marriage eventually finds a place in Cranford. Miss Matty's servant marries a charming young man, and the couple is very happy. The local surgeon marries one of the ladies in town who is above his station, a scandal that is endlessly discussed among the women; but despite the couple becoming outcasts, they seem very content.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
very entertaining,
By
This review is from: Cranford (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)
Orginally published in Charles Dickens' magazine Household Words, _Cranford_is in fact a collection of stories about the people (mostly women)'s lives in a city called Cranford in the 19th century. It is said to be Mrs. Gaskell's most popular book, and the only book that Mrs. Gaskell herself would want to re-read again. This book is indeed full of funny, ridiculous and heartwarming stories about some old-fashioned but really friendly and kind-hearted women (mostly old maids or widows) living in this little town called Cranford. I think Mrs. Gaskell did a good job in bring up themes like the confrontation of the old and new world, the comparsion between the life in an industrial city like Drumble (believed to be based on Manchester) and the little tranquil town Cranford. If you are interested in Victorian Literature, this is one of the few relaxing novels belonging to that period that is definitely worth a reading!
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