Cranford (1851), the best-known of Elizabeth Gaskell's novels, first appeared as a serial in the magazine Household Words, edited by Charles Dickens. The story revolves around the town of Cranford, home to Mary Smith and her friends, the sisters Miss Matty and Miss Deborah. Life changes when their long-lost brother Peter returns after a long absence.

North and South is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published weekly in Dickens' Household Worlds in twenty-two parts from September 1854 to January 1855. The story revolves around Margaret Hale, only daughter of a former parson. Margaret and her parents move to Milton, a factory town in the North of England, where they meet a proud, self-made factory owner

Wives and Daughters is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in the Cornhill Magazine as a serial from August 1864 to January 1866. When Mrs Gaskell died suddenly in 1865, it was not quite complete, and the last section was written by Frederick Greenwood. The story revolves around Molly Gibson, only daughter of a widowed doctor living in a provincial English town in the 1830s.

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell 29 September 1810 - 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer.Susan and Michael were to be married in April. He had already gone to take possession of his new farm, three or four miles away from Yew Nook--but that is neighbouring, according to the acceptation of the word in that thinly-populated district, --when William Dixon fell ill. He came home one evening, complaining of head-ache and pains in his limbs.