JustNoNoISaid t1_j9e9s5j wrote
She's my Victorian comfort read. Cranford is a delight, as are her shorter fiction.
Her novels have been hit or miss, with North & South and Mary Barton in the hits category, and Wives & Daughters and Sylvia's Lovers in the miss.
Unlike Charlotte Bronte, though, who had a tendency to shoot above her intelectual weight, and Dickens, to a large extent, who got mired in the melodrama of his stories, I found Gaskell to be a very grounded writer, a rarity among the Victorians.
_cathyH OP t1_j9eaina wrote
Ooh this is something. I was actually considering next Wives and Daughters as I've read somewhere that it's good. Think it's worth to read?
JustNoNoISaid t1_j9eb537 wrote
Classic novels are always worth a read, if only so you can form your own opinion on them
The novel is unfinished, though. I read the Wordsworth Classics edition of it, and it had an ending compiled posthumously from Gaskell's notes by her editor, I think.
It serves, but you know - it's not Gaskell. Her genius is in her narration.
To wit, you should also read Gaskell's biography of the Bronte sisters.
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