The Cranford Chronicles

Based on three Elizabeth Gaskell novels, The Cranford Chronicles follows the small absurdities and major tragedies in the lives of the people of Cranford, a small Cheshire market town, during one extraordinary year.In this witty and poignant story the railway is pushing its way relentlessly towards the town from Manchester, bringing fears of migrant workers and the breakdown of law and order. The arrival of handsome young Doctor Harrison causes yet further agitation not just because of his revolutionary methods but also because of his effect on the hearts of the ladies. Meanwhile Miss Matty Jenkyns nurses her own broken heart after she was forced to give up the man she loved when she was a young girl.

“"When I pick it up I always think it has a different shape or feel to any other book. It was 150 years or so before, and it all made complete sense, and it all humanly worked, and it was a revelation."”

Bathed in a poignant, dreamlike mood found nowhere else in fiction Guardian
A comic masterpiece Independent

Elizabeth Gaskell was born on 29 September 1810 in London. She was brought up in Knutsford, Cheshire by her aunt after her mother died when she was two years old. In 1832 she married William Gaskell, who was a Unitarian minister like her father. After their marriage they lived in Manchester with their children. Elizabeth Gaskell published her first novel, Mary Barton, in 1848 to great success. She went on to publish much of her work in Charles Dickens's magazines, Household Words and All the Year Round. Along with short stories and a biography of Charlotte Bronte, she published five more novels including North and South (1855) and Wives and Daughters (1866). Wives and Daughters is unfinished as Elizabeth Gaskell died suddenly of heart failure on 12 November 1865.

INCLUDES MR HARRISON'S CONFESSIONS, CRANFORD AND MY LADY LUDLOW 'A comic masterpiece' Independent Cranford is a sleepy northern town, but modern life, in the shape of a new railway, is pushing its way relentlessly towards it from Manchester, bringing with it new oppoertunities and excitement. The arrival of handsome young Doctor Harrison causes further agitation, not just because of his revolutionary methods but also because of his effect on the hearts of the ladies. Meanwhile, Miss Matty Jenkyns watches the comings and goings and remembers when, as a girl, her own heart was broken. See also: Middlemarch

Three of Elizabeth Gaskell's best-loved novels-" Cranford," "Mr Harrison's Confessions, "and" My Lady Ludlow-"are combined in this witty and poignant look at the market town of Cranford. The railway is pushing its way relentlessly towards the village from Manchester, bringing fears of migrant workers and the breakdown of law and order. The arrival of handsome young Doctor Harrison causes yet further agitation, not just because of his revolutionary methods, but also because of his effect on the hearts of the village's ladies. Meanwhile Miss Matty Jenkyns nurses her own heart following her forced abandonment of the man she loved since she was a young girl.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.