Title: Cranford

Author: Elizabeth Gaskell

Publisher: 1853

Genre: Classics

Pages: 257

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Popsugar - Movie I've Already Seen; A to Z - C

Cranford is an affectionate and often moving portrait of genteel poverty and intertwined lives in a nineteenth-century village. One of Elizabeth Gaskell's most beloved works, it centres on a community dominated by women and governed by old-fashioned ways. The formidable Miss Deborah Jenkyns and the kindly Miss Matty's days revolve around card games, tea, thriftiness and an endless appetite for scandal, until change comes into their world - whether it is the modern ideas of Captain Brown, a bank collapse, rumours of burglars or an unexpected reappearance from the past.

Classic that has been sitting on my shelf for too long. I enjoyed this one, but it's definitely not for everyone. I love how Gaskell has structured the book as more of vignettes than cohesive consecutive chapters. The reader gets little slices of life in Cranford filled with colorful characters and insights into relationships. I see this as a mix between Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. I'm not a huge fan of Dickens, but I adore Austen. This was a good mixture of the genres. While the book is very good, I loved the BBC miniseries starring Dame Judi Dench as Miss Matty. She is a treasure! 

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