Synopses & Reviews
A gently comic picture of life in an English country town in the mid-nineteenth century, Cranford describes the small adventures of Miss Matty and Miss Deborah, two middle-aged spinster sisters striving to live with dignity in reduced circumstances. Rich with humor and filled with vividly memorable charactersincluding the dignified Lady Glenmire and the duplicitous showman Signor BrunoniCranford is a portrait of kindness, compassion, and hope.
About the Author
Elizabeth Gaskell (18101865) was a ministers wife and mother of four daughters. Living in Manchester, England, she worked among the poor, traveled frequently, and wrote several novels and a biography of her friend Charlotte Brontë.
Patricia Ingham is senior research fellow and reader at St. Annes College, Oxford. She is the general editor of Thomas Hardys fiction in Penguin Classics and edited Gaskells North and South for the series.