Celebrating the life and work of Elizabeth Gaskell
In February 2021, we enjoyed a real transatlantic treat! Historical novelist Finola Austin talked to us (from her home in New York) about Brontë’s Mistress. The novel tells the story of the scandalous affair between Branwell Brontë and Lydia Robinson, mistress … Continued
The Rev Dr Ann Peart gave this talk to the Gaskell Society on 6 October 2020. It is now almost exactly 25 years since I came back to live and Manchester after a gap of over 30 years, and exchanged … Continued
Cranford is presented as an isolated community rooted in the past and inwardly focused on the minutiae of domestic routine and etiquette, yet the town has a railway; a dynamic force which undercuts the inward focus and inertia of this … Continued
For April’s ‘This Month in Writing’ I have chosen to discuss Cranford as two episodes of the story were published in Household Words in April 1852 and April 1853. These were ‘Visiting at Cranford’ and ‘Stopped payment at Cranford’. However, … Continued