Country Conversations By Georgine Tollet

The letters of the four Gaskell daughters open a door into the social and cultural lives of a well-connected middle-class Victorian family. Events that impinged on the lives and the letters of these women include the Indian Mutiny, the assassination of Lincoln, the Franco-Prussian War, the Boer Wars and Fenian agitation. They witnessed the effects in England of the American Civil War, and engaged in the religious controversies of the day. They take a close interest in the impact of Darwin's discoveries, discuss the latest news, Ruskin's lectures on Venice, the Pre-Raphaelites, and what it is like to play Beethoven's piano pieces under Sir Charles Halle's tuition. They also shed light on the network of Unitarian friends and scholars who undertook the stewardship of Elizabeth Gaskell's writing. This richly annotated edition will appeal to anyone interested in Transatlantic relations, in Mrs Gaskell, in women's networking, in Victorian ideas and social life, and in the intellectual culture of dissenting circles.

A selection of texts by Elizabeth Gaskell, accompanied by annotations. It brings together Gaskell academics to provide readers with scholarship on her work and seeks to bring the crusading spirit and genius of the writer into the 21st century to take her place as a major Victorian writer.