"Cranford" is likely the best known novel of Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell. The novel follows the day-to-day social lives of a group of upper-middle-class women in the small, fictional town of Cranford, England. Rather than having a strong narrative, the novel delivers a tableau of social goings on that illuminate the characters and their lives. These stories are told largely through the eyes of a younger lady (Miss Mary Smith) who often visits from a nearby town. The ladies of Cranford are not rich, but wealthy enough to belong to a certain social strata, and much of the comedy derives...

Moorland Cottage by Elizabeth Gaskell is a short novella that was first published around 1850 after her first novel Mary Barton but before one of her more famous novels Cranford. It centers on Maggie Browne, her brother Edward, and their mother who live at the novella's title Moorland Cottage. Mr. Browne died when the children were very young and Mrs. Browne has spent most of the rest of her time neglecting Maggie and catering to her Edward, allowing him all of life's pleasures and ambitions. Maggie obediently stands by and watches her mother spoil Edward and never complains when she is...