My New Literary Love

If you know me, you know I adore Jane Austen.  I love all of her books, her time period, the composed way of talking and carrying oneself.  In the last couple months I have discovered another author.  Elizabeth Gaskell.  She is the same era as Austen, and writes very similarly.  In Austen’s books the love story is the revolving point of the story whereas in Gaskell’s novels (at least the two I have read so far), there is so much more going on.  In North and South (perhaps my new favorite book, if I dare say that), she brings in some very serious social issues of the time period.  The relationship of masters (business owners) and workhands, which leads into a strike.  The heroine has friends on both sides of the issue, so you really get a sense of the struggle and how there is not an easy answer.  There is a BBC made for tv version that I watched after completing the book.  I got Kevin to watch it with me and he enjoyed it (although he is always very critical of Jane Austen because you only ever see the upper classes and that is “a very unrealistic portrait of how most people were living”).

So if you like Jane Austen, give Elizabeth Gaskell a try!  I’ve read Cranford and North and South and loved them both.  Wives and Daughters is next on my list!