Cranford

Cranford is a small English country town 'in possession of the Amazons': its society is made up almost entirely of genteel single ladies and widows living on very little money, who hide their poverty behind rules of 'elegant economy', strict visiting hours and a candle never lit when one can talk in the dark. Through the eyes of a young visitor, Mary Smith, we follow Miss Matty Jenkyns and her friends through small scandals, fears of burglars, a bank failure and a long-lost brother's return.

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865) published the episodes in Charles Dickens's magazine Household Words between 1851 and 1853. Gentle, funny and quietly moving, Cranford is a portrait of kindness in a small community. Gaskell also wrote the industrial novel North and South and a famous biography of her friend Charlotte Brontë.