Product Description

Each volume in the Collector's Library series has a specially commissioned Afterword, brief biography of the author and a further reading list. The Afterword is by leading UK playwright, novelist and Sherlockian, David Stuart Davies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #94375 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Customer Reviews

I wish she had written more.
Cranford was written as a serial at the request of Charles Dickens for his paper, Household Words. It is a portrait of country town life before it was changed forever by the industrial revolution. Life moves at a gentle pace and we are acquainted with the qualities and quirks of the predominantly female society. Sometimes there is pettiness, but mostly, when push comes to shove, the ladies of Cranford are good as gold. Mrs. Gaskell tells her tale with obvious affection for Cranford which she based on her childhood home of Knutsford.

I was not too hopeful of enjoying a tale mostly about widows and spinsters but I was pleasantly surprised. This book both made me laugh and cry. Mrs. Gaskell manages to sometimes tell of what was probably considered rather vulgar in her day in a tasteful manner.

One of the funniest bits is when Mrs Forrester gets comfortable in the presence of Lady Glenmire and relates the near loss of a bit of precious old lace her ladyship was admiring. I will say it involves a cat and a borrowed boot. I laughed until it hurt.

I found Cranford a comfortable and pleasant escape. I will read this one again while sipping my favourite tea and my doors are open to let in the sound of birdsong.

village life under the microscope
i really enjoyed this book. it is a microcosim of village life in the 1850's.

all there life and loves are written down in such a manner as to entertain you to the full.

a book you wont want to put down.