Published in instalments from 1851 to 1853, Cranford is Elizabeth Gaskell’s affectionate sketch of life in a small English town dominated by the genteel poverty and rigid social codes of its middle-aged female inhabitants. Narrated by the outsider Mary Smith, it captures a community at once narrow and deeply human, comic and touching in equal measure.
Gaskell’s light satirical touch and her genuine warmth for her characters have kept Cranford in print and on screen ever since. Download this free EPUB from Better Gutenberg for a beautifully formatted edition of one of Victorian literature’s most beloved smaller works.