Includes Cranford which depicts the lives and preoccupations of the inhabitants of a small village - their petty snobberies and appetite for gossip, and their loyal support for each other in times of need; and, Cousin Phillis, which depicts a fleeting love affair in a rural community at a time when old values are being supplanted by the new.

Mrs Gaskell''s first novel, Mary Barton portrays city life in the hungry forties of the 19th century. In this Broadview edition, a new introduction focusses on the novel''s artistry and its liberal politics.'

"My dear why don't you ask him to dinner here? A little quiet dinner, you know. Cook is quite up to it; and we would all of us wear blacks and lilacs; he couldn't consider that as gaiety." Mr. Gibson took no more notice of these suggestions than by shaking his head. He had grown accustomed to his wife by this time, and regarded silence on his own part as a great preservative against long inconsequential arguments. But every time that Mrs. Gibson was struck by Cynthia's beauty, she thought it more and more advisable that Mr. Osbourne Hamley should be cheered up by a quiet little dinner-party....