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Chargement... The Cranford Chronicles (2007)par Elizabeth Gaskell
Chargement...
Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. I’ve been meaning to read something by Elizabeth Gaskell for a long time since my good friend and fellow BookCrosser mrsgaskell really liked her books. I once asked her which was her favourite and she said she liked all of them but that Cranford might be the best one to start with. Sadly, mrsgaskell lost her battle with cancer earlier this year and I never had a chance to discuss her namesake’s writing with her. In her memory I suggested to the book club we both attended that we read Cranford and so we decided to have it for our September book. This book actually contains two other works of fiction by Gaskell, Mr. Harrison’s Confessions and My Lady Ludlow. Mr. Harrison’s Confessions is fairly short, more like a novella, but was a good introduction to EG’s style. Mr. Harrison was a newly graduated surgeon who came to a small town to practice with an established bachelor doctor. As might be expected a young unattached professional man excited a certain amount of interest amongst the unmarried females of the town. It was quite a humourous look at love and courtship all coming right in the end. The second book was Cranford. The narrator is a young woman, called Mary Smith (as we eventually learn), who does not live in Cranford but visits it frequently because her father was from there. Polite society in Cranford consists almost entirely of women on their own either because they never married or because they are widowed. Mary is very fond of the women but is not blind to their eccentricities and foibles. She mostly stays with the Misses Jenkyns when she visits but there is so much visiting back and forth that she keeps in contact with all the other ladies. When the elder Miss Jenkyns dies her sister, Miss Matty, tries to keep things the same as her sister would have wanted them. However, when the bank that the elder Miss Jenkyns had invested their estate with goes bankrupt Miss Matty must cut back to almost nothing. Mary Smith and her father are ready to help but it is really the neighbourhood who stands behind her. The third book, My Lady Ludlow, is also narrated by a woman. Margaret Dawson’s father, a clergyman, died quite young leaving his widow and children without means of support. The widow contacted her relative, Lady Ludlow, to see if she could do anything to help and Lady Ludlow offered to take Margaret into her home where she was raising a few young women. Lady Ludlow was a widow with only one child, the present Lord Ludlow, living. She had been an attendant in court during her early years but on becoming a widow had retired to her family home. She was a woman of decided tastes and thoughts but very kind and compassionate as well. One of her beliefs was that the lower classes should not be educated. When a new pastor came to the church with many thoughts of reform Lady Ludlow clashed with him. But Mr. Grey was quite determined and he continued to work towards getting a village school. This should have earned him the Lady Ludlow’s enmity but as things work out Mr. Grey and Lady Ludlow become quite close. Margaret observes everything from her sofa in the Lady’s room where she is laid up by a chronic hip problem. Of the three books I definitely liked Cranford the best. I thought the characters were the best described and the storyline was interesting with a satisfactory ending. Mr. Harrison’s Confessions was too brief to completely catch my interest but it was quite funny. My Lady Ludlow seemed to be rather a collection of stories with a thread of a common character to keep them together. One of the storylines reminded me of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and another reminded me of a book I read recently, Is He Popenjoy by Anthony Trollope. I believe both these authors were contemporaries of EG but I don’t know enough to decide if she inspired them or if they inspired her. I understand that these three works were placed together because they formed the basis of a BBC series. I’ll have to look for that to come on PBS or CBC one of these days. Cranford (published 1851) is a quiet book, focusing on traditions in a changing pre-Victorian society in a small rural community. Given it’s slow pace, when I first read Cranford (thoughts here), I really struggled. I felt stifled by the overbearing traditions of the community of Cranford, and I wondered where the plot was. Yet, by the end, I liked it, and I have eagerly anticipated a reread. This time, I loved it from the beginning. Gaskell’s satiric perspective on a Victorian society of gossipy women seemed particularly applicable to modern life (to some extent). I was intrigued by her plot devices, subtle though they were, and while I still had a few issues with the novel, the reread and our book club discussion was a success. More on my blog aucune critique | ajouter une critique
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In this witty and poignant story the railway is pushing its way relentlessly towards the town from Manchester, bringing fears of migrant workers and the breakdown of law and order. The arrival of handsome young Doctor Harrison causes yet further agitation not just because of his revolutionary methods but also because of his effect on the hearts of the ladies. Meanwhile Miss Matty Jenkyns nurses her own broken heart after she was forced to give up the man she loved when she was a young girl. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)823.8Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Victorian period 1837-1900Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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'Mr. Harrison's Confessions': 4 Stars.
A young doctor unwittingly gets in over his head in romantic entanglements when he begins his practice in a small town where he has mostly female patients.
'Cranford': 5 Stars.
A lovely collection of anecdotes and wisdom from a community led by its women. The lack of plot is inconsequential.
'My Lady Ludlow': 2 Stars.
Scarred by the French Revolution, a kindly English aristocrat must be brought around to accepting reform on her estate. ( )