Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

"Cranford" by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell is an episodic novel published in 1853. Set in a small English country town, the work affectionately portrays a society of elderly women navigating genteel poverty and rigid social codes in a world slowly changing around them. Through the eyes of visitor Mary Smith, readers encounter the "Amazons" of Cranford—widows and spinsters maintaining appearances through "elegant economy" while resisting the industrial age creeping beyond their boundaries. This gentle chronicle explores class, tradition, and the gradual shift from rank-based society toward human kindness. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

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About this eBook

Author Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865
Illustrator Brock, C. E. (Charles Edmund), 1870-1938
Title Cranford
Note Wikipedia page about this book: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranford_(novel)
Credits David Price, Margaret Price and Richard Tonsing
Reading Level Reading ease score: 69.5 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read.
Language English
LoC Class PR: Language and Literatures: English literature
Subject England -- Fiction
Subject Sisters -- Fiction
Subject Pastoral fiction
Subject Villages -- Fiction
Subject Older women -- Fiction
Subject Female friendship -- Fiction
Category Text
EBook-No. 394
Release Date
Most Recently Updated Dec 23, 2025
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
Downloads 40617 downloads in the last 30 days.
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