Moody and feelingly wrought short works by the author of Cranford and Mary Gaskell. ( )

This collections was mixed--and a bit repetitive. Bad children, long suffering parents, moments of redemption and forgiveness. I'm not sure if Gaskell wrote these before some of her well-known novels or at the same time, but I did note a lot of similarity in characters and themes. The selfish, debt-ridden son in "The Crooked Branch," for example, was the same type as the son in The Moorland Cottage, and his faithful, sacrificing fiancee/cousin was a match for that young man's sister. "Lois the Witch" was a stereotypical tale of the witch craze in Salem, where jealousy and religious fanaticism turn into false accusations; it made me conclude that Gaskell is much better in familiar territory. While not really bad, this collection made me wish I had spent my time reading or rereading one of her better developed novels. ( )