Cranford: Color Illustrated, Formatted for E-Readers

How is this book unique?

Formatted for E-Readers, Unabridged & Original version. You will find it much more comfortable to read on your device/app. Easy on your eyes.

Includes: 15 Colored Illustrations and Biography

Cranford is one of the better-known novels of the 19th-century English writer Elizabeth Gaskell. It was first published in 1851 as a serial in the magazine Household Words, which was edited by Charles Dickens. A collection of comic sketches serialized in Charles Dickens's journal Household Words, these stories look to sympathetically portray changing small-town customs and values. Harkening back to memories of her childhood in the small Cheshire town of Knutsford, Cranford is an attempt to portray an affectionate picture of a class and customs already becoming anachronisms.

The book is narrated by Mary Smith, a woman who frequently visits the town and, when away, remains abreast of events through correspondence with the other characters. The first chapter introduces the leading women of Cranford, idiosyncratic yet endearing characters who hope to preserve their lifestyles (and all-important social customs) from change. Rowena Fowler, possessor of a red silk umbrella, conservatively considers an heir while her infirm body has outlived her kin. Miss Betty Barker is also determined to preserve the past, but in the form of her cow, which she sews pyjamas for, as it lost all of its hair after falling into a lime-pit. As for Miss Deborah Jenkyns, she establishes the norms and customs by which the town must abide.

However, when Captain Brown moves to town, he challenges the women's rules of politeness. First, he openly admits his own poverty. This is particularly awful to Miss Deborah Jenkyns, whom Brown also offends by finding Charles Dickens a better writer than Jenkyns' preferred "Dr. Johnson" (Samuel Johnson). Nevertheless, Brown’s warm manner subdues his detractors’ contention of his supposed social awkwardness; therefore, they allow him to bypass custom and visit before noon. Brown also has two daughters: Miss Brown, an ill-tempered woman with hardened features, and Miss Jessie, who has an innocent face and, like her father, is naive to Cranford’s rules. For instance, Miss Jessie boasts that her uncle can provide her with large amounts of Shetland wool. When aristocratic Miss Jamieson overhears, she takes exception to Miss Jessie putting on airs.