"Cranford" by Elizabeth Gaskell

"It was impossible to live a month at Cranford, and not know the daily habits of each resident..."

I have been trying to decide what to say about this book for a couple of days now - writers *blog* has left my mind blank... But I do know that everyone should read something by Elizabeth Gaskell; a contemporary of Charles Dickens, this often looked over authoress is my personal favorite. Her writing is flawless and very readable; you never have to read a sentence twice to try and figure out what she was communicating; in fact the only reason to read an "Elizabeth Gaskell sentence" twice is to relish it!

Cranford was originally written as a series of eight vignettes that were published in Household Words, a periodical edited by Charles Dickens. Later Mrs. Gaskell decided to put them together in novel form and did a little tweeking through the story to make it work better in this medium.

This story is a window into the lives of the residents of Cranford, a small, fictional town in England. The work is semi-autobiographical, loosely describing characters and events that happened in the town of Knutsworth where Elizabeth Gaskell spent many of her growing-up years.

The book is narrated by Mary Smith, a friend of Deborah and Matilda Jenkyns, and a regular visitor to Cranford. The Misses Jenkyns are two middle-aged spinster sisters, the daughters of the late Rector Jenkyns, trying to make due and uphold the appearance of dignity with little money; they fit in perfectly since the rest of the widows and spinsters of Cranford seem to be in the same situation.

Since most of the women in the story are unmarried they feel it their duty to speak almost contemptuously or indifferent as to the institution of marriage while at the same time secretly wishing they were under it's power. "The ladies of Cranford are quite sufficient. 'A man,' as one of them observed to me once, 'is so in the way in the house!"

My favorite description of the Cranford ladies is found on the second page of the book: "Their dress is very independent of fashion; as they observe, 'What does is signify how we dress here at Cranford, where everybody knows us?' And if they go from home, their reason is equally cogent: 'What does it signify how we dress here, where nobody knows us?'"

Most of the story centers on Matilda Jenkyns (Miss Matty) and her struggle to be independent; to discover herself and her own strength after the death of her very pious and decisive sister Deborah. Although many of the accounts in the book are light and heart-warming, the town of Cranford is not untouched by tragedy; almost at the beginning the reader hears of sickness, a violent death, unrequited love and later, the eventual bankruptcy of Miss Matty. The interaction of the women in Miss Matty's circle is sometimes humorous and sometimes petty and tainted by the ruling of the social classes.

Just like reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, I feel that I really know Miss Matty - almost to the point where I felt like I was the narrator, Mary Smith, and that I experienced her sorrows and her joys with her; that I experienced life with her. Miss Matty is one of the most loveable and endearing characters that I have come across in a novel and it is strange to know that her life was not really lived. And like Dorothea, in George Eliot's Middlemarch (a book you should read if you haven't already), she represents one of many quiet people in the world who are trying to be good and do good, and that makes all the difference. *I am not insinuating that Dorothea and Miss Matty are similar in their motives or personalities.

There are two other stories in a collection called The Cranford Chronicles - My Lady Ludlow and Mr. Harrison's Confessions. I have already ordered these from amazon.com. I am thankful that my wonderful Auntie Carol let me know that I need to read these before watching the new BBC mini-series entitled Cranford because they merged all three stories into it. I can't wait to see it - I have heard from two excellent sources that it was very well done.

The other Elizabeth Gaskell books I have read are Wives and Daughters (which is her last book, but be aware that it is unfinished) and North and South which is my favorite all-time book. I sometimes daydream that I am Margaret Hale and that John Thornton is not just a character from a book (I would take Mr. Thornton over Mr. Darcy ANYDAY!). Sometimes when I need a romantic pick-me-up I just have to read the last two pages of this book.

Cranford gets four **** stars from me and a recommendation to all within my blogging power to try a book by Elizabeth Gaskell. You won't be sorry. I really enjoyed the Penguins Classics edition that I purchased; it had excellent and very necessary notes to help understand some of the colloquialisms and history, two bonus appendices including an excerpt on fashion at the time the book took place (with illustrations), and an introduction that I actually found useful (although I only skimmed through it).

And here's a thought to leave you with: "It is very pleansant dining with a bachelor...I only hope it is not improper; so many pleasant things are!"