Other editions of book My Lady Ludlow

My Lady Ludlow is a long novella (over 77,000 words). It appeared in the magazine Household Words in 1858, and was republished in Round the Sofa in 1859, with framing passages added at the start and end.It recounts the daily lives of the widowed Lady Ludlow of Hanbury and the spinster Miss Galindo, and their caring for other single women and girls. It is also concerned with Lady Ludlow's man of business, Mr Horner, and a poacher's son named Harry Gregson whose education he provides for. With Cranford, The Last Generation in England and Mr. Harrison's Confessions, it was adapted for TV in 2007 as Cranford.

My Lady Ludlow is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell. It appeared in the magazine Household Words in 1858, and was republished in Round the Sofa in 1859, with framing passages added at the start and end. It recounts the daily lives of the widowed Countess of Ludlow of Hanbury and the spinster Miss Galindo, whose father was a Baronet, and their caring for other single women and girls. It is also concerned with Lady Ludlow's man of business, Mr Horner, and a poacher's son named Harry Gregson whose education he provides for.

This beloved novella from author Elizabeth Gaskell offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of women in the nineteenth century, particularly those who were widowed or unmarried. The lack of legal rights afforded to these women may come as a shock to contemporary readers, but Gaskell addresses the unique challenges they faced — and often triumphed over — with grace and keen insight.

My Lady Ludlow is a long novella (over 77,000 words). It appeared in the magazine Household Words in 1858, and was republished in Round the Sofa in 1859, with framing passages added at the start and end.It recounts the daily lives of the widowed Lady Ludlow of Hanbury and the spinster Miss Galindo, and their caring for other single women and girls. It is also concerned with Lady Ludlow's man of business, Mr Horner, and a poacher's son named Harry Gregson whose education he provides for. With Cranford, The Last Generation in England and Mr. Harrison's Confessions, it was adapted for TV in 2007 as Cranford.

My Lady Ludlow CHAPTER I. I am an old woman now, and things are very different to what they were in my youth. Then we, who travelled, travelled in coaches, carrying six inside, and making a two days’ journey out of what people now go over in a couple of hours with a whizz and a flash, and a screaming whistle, enough to deafen one. Then letters came in but three times a week: indeed, in some places in Scotland where I have stayed when I was a girl, the post came in but once a month;—but letters were letters then; and we made great prizes of them, and read them and studied them like books. Now the post comes rattling in twice a day, bringing short jerky notes, some without beginning or end, but just a little sharp sentence, which well-bred folks would think too abrupt to be spoken. Well, well! they may all be improvements,—I dare say they are; but you will never meet with a Lady Ludlow in these days. I will try and tell you about her. It is no story: it has, as I said, neither beginning, middle, nor end. My father was a poor clergyman with a large family. My mother was always said to have good blood in her veins; and when she wanted to maintain her position with the people she was thrown among,—principally rich democratic manufacturers, all for liberty and the French Revolution,—she would put on a pair of ruffles, trimmed with real old English point, very much darned to be sure,—but which could not be bought new for love or money, as the art of making it was lost years before. These ruffles showed, as she said, that her ancestors had been Somebodies, when the grandfathers of the rich folk, who now looked down upon her, had been Nobodies,—if, indeed, they had any grandfathers at all. I don’t know whether any one out of our own family ever noticed these ruffles,—but we were all taught as children to feel rather proud when my mother put them on, and to hold up our heads as became t

I am an old woman now, and things are very different to what they were in my youth. Then we, who travelled, travelled in coaches, carrying six inside, and making a two days' journey out of what people now go over in a couple of hours with a whizz and a flash, and a screaming whistle, enough to deafen one. Then letters came in but three times a week: indeed, in some places in Scotland where I have stayed when I was a girl, the post came in but once a month;-but letters were letters then; and we made great prizes of them, and read them and studied them like books. Now the post comes rattling in twice a day, bringing short jerky notes, some without beginning or end, but just a little sharp sentence, which well-bred folks would think too abrupt to be spoken. Well, well! they may all be improvements,-I dare say they are; but you will never meet with a Lady Ludlow in these days.

Lady Ludlow is absolute mistress of Hanbury Court and a resolute opponent of anything that might disturb the class system into which she was born. She will keep no servant who can read and write and insists that the lower orders have no rights, but only duties. But the winds of change are blowing through the village of Hanbury. The vicar, Mr. Gray, wishes to start a Sunday school for religious reasons; Mr. Horner wants to educate the citizens for economic reasons. But Lady Ludlow is not as rigid as one may think.