Gaskell Society News

"In short, I am ... open to any amount of literary gossip."

– Letter (412) to George Smith, February 1859 –

The Old Nurse’s Story

‘The Old Nurse’s Story’ can be found in collections of Gothic stories, ghost stories and tales of the macabre, something which might seem odd for a woman who was the

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This Month in Writing – September

How would you then define a hero? ‘The Sexton’s Hero’, was published in William and Mary Howitt’s Journal during September 1847, the year before Gaskell ‘s first, and much-loved, novel

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Women in Science

The Gaskell Society recently received a question via Twitter concerning connections between Molly Gibson (Wives and Daughters) and Eleanor Omerod, an entomologist. Omerod was born in Gloucestershire in 1828, moving

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Confessions of a Nervous Chair….

It’s hard to imagine a more nerve-wracking scenario than Newish Chairwoman organising and chairing her first conference for such a well-respected literary society as the Gaskell Society. NOT helped by

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The Gaskell Revival

Elizabeth Gaskell, the wife of a Unitarian minister of religion in Manchester, shared her husband’s interest in literature: they published some jointly written verses in 1837.  Elizabeth became a best-selling

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A celebration – and a secret!

On 31st May 2019, the Gaskell Society held a joint celebration at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House in Manchester.  Members of the Gaskell Society committee joined with past and present editors of the Gaskell

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