Book Review : Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

This is a very interesting piece of work by Elizabeth Gaskell. It describes episodes of life in Cranford, where a cow falls into a lime pit and returns to the field dressed in grey flannel and where all the holders of houses above a certain rent are women. A man in the town is treated as something of a rarity and commented on in depth.

Cranford is based on the actual town of Knutsford in Cheshire where Elizabeth grew up. She wrote a story about life in a country town and the old-fashioned class snobbery prevailing there. This story was read by Charles Dickens and he published it in his magazine Household Words. Dickens was the editor. The initial story became the first two chapters of Cranford and Dickens encouraged Gaskell to write more. She did.

The narrator is Mary Smith, the daughter of a businessman living in Manchester (called Drumble in the novel), who only visits Cranford occasionally, which account for the episodic nature of the narration.

When reading this book, you have to remember that just 20 miles away in Manchester were the mills that had inspired Engels to write certain books such as The Condition of the Working Class in England. Manchester may have also inspired Hard Times by Charles Dickens published in 1854 just three years after Gaskell’s initial story appeared in his magazine.