Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, often referred to as Mrs. Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer, and short story writer. Her novels provide detailed studies of Victorian society, with a particular focus on the lives of the very poor. Her literary career began with the 1848 publication of her first novel, Mary Barton, and she later authored the significant and controversial 1857 biography, The Life of Charlotte Brontë, which helped establish the Brontë family’s lasting fame.

Among Gaskell’s best-known works are the novels Cranford, published between 1851 and 1853, North and South, published between 1854 and 1855, and Wives and Daughters, published between 1864 and 1866. All of these acclaimed novels have been adapted for television by the BBC.