Lockdown Reads – Part 2
Again, I hope that everyone is keeping safe, well and entertained. Gaskell Society members have been sharing their current and favourite lockdown reads and a few recommendations for great telly […]
Lockdown Reads – Part 1
One of the few silver linings to the Covid cloud that’s currently hanging over us is (for many of us) more time to read, and as we are members of […]
Six Weeks at Heppenheim (1862)
Only four pieces of Gaskell’s writing were published in May: the last two episodes of Cranford, an obscure piece entitled ‘Company Manners’ (1854) and the short story, “Six Weeks at Heppenheim”. […]
Fever in Eccleston! Ruth, Chapter 33
While reading Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Ruth in connection with another project, I came across some passages that seemed uncannily apt to our own situation – the Great Fever of 2020. As […]
The Shoddy Court Literary & Mutual Improvement Society
Our very good friend, Dr Michael Sanders, Senior Lecturer in C19th Writing at the University of Manchester, is running a virtual reading group via Zoom during the COVID-19 lockdown period. […]
A Dark Night’s Work
Published in 1863, ‘A Dark Night’s Work’ was first serialised in Dickens’ periodical All The Year Round between January and March 1862. Despite its title, it is predominantly a psychological exploration […]
What is There to Tell?
‘Mr. Harrison’s Confession’ was serialised in the Ladies Companion and Monthly Magazine between February and April 1851. The title is intriguing because it suggests any number of possible misdemeanours that […]
Oh my Prophetic Soul!
Diane Duffy looks tells the story of a tragic drowning in Silverdale in 1850, which echoed a story written by Elizabeth Gaskell three years before. While it would be good […]
This Month in Writing – January
‘The Grey Woman’ Published January 1861 in volume IV of Charles Dickens’ All the Year Round January is a dull month after the Christmas festivities, so what could be better […]
This Month in Writing – December
‘The Secret Life of Edward Higgins: The Squire’s Story Published in the Extra Christmas Number of Dickens’ Household Words, December 1853 After looking at some interesting Welsh locations in ‘The […]