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 […]
William Robson – Warrington’s Abolitionist
In Warrington’s Cairo Street Unitarian Chapel, close to the steps leading to the Priestley Gates, is an obelisk commemorating the lives of William Robson (1812-1902), his wife Anna, and their […]
This Month in Writing – November
‘The Well of Pen – Morfa’, November 1850 In the autumn of 1850, the year that Elizabeth Gaskell and her family took up residence at 42, Plymouth Grove, Charles Dickens published […]
Cousin Phillis
Gaskell’s last novella, Cousin Phillis, was published in The Cornhill Magazine in 1863, only two years before she died. In this story she returns to her beloved Knutsford, now named […]
This Month in Writing – October
Mary Barton – the book that divided a nation 1848 was the year of revolution. A series of political upheavals took place across Europe. Their aim was ostensibly to remove the old monarchical structures and […]
This Month in Writing: ‘An Accursed Race’
We all think of Elizabeth Gaskell as a brilliantly entertaining storyteller, whom Dickens addressed as ‘my dear Scheherazade’. But how many of us know her works of non-fiction? One interesting […]