A new girl arrives at an English boarding school in mid-term, is placed in a form of older pupils, and has to find out for herself what the rules actually are. The school story of this period ran on such arrivals; what distinguishes this one is the amount of ordinary school work in it. The friendships are made and broken over small things, exactly as they are at that age. Fifty-six plates of nineteenth-century painting, from Wilkie's crowded interiors to Sisley's riverside views, catch the...

Three American women take rooms in London — Penelope the artist, Salemina the Boston philanthropist, and Francesca, not yet twenty and in love — and set down the weekly bill, the powdered footman, a ducal tea-party and a ball watched from across the street. With them come A Cathedral Courtship, in which Kitty Schuyler and Jack Copley conduct a romance through the English cathedral towns in alternating diaries, and The Birds' Christmas Carol, the story of a sick child born on Christmas Day ...

A small Cheshire town run almost entirely by women of small means and large dignity, where the arrival of a bank failure or a conjuror counts as an era. Gaskell wrote it in sketches for Dickens's magazine, with no plan for a novel, and the shape it took is the shape of gossip. The town is Knutsford, where she grew up. Fifty-eight plates of painting, from Tissot to Marianne North, gather the parlours, tea tables and far-off landscapes that give Gaskell's small-town comedy its wider weather....

A small Cheshire town run almost entirely by women of small means and large dignity, where the arrival of a bank failure or a conjuror counts as an era. Gaskell wrote it in sketches for Dickens's magazine, with no plan for a novel, and the shape it took is the shape of gossip. The town is Knutsford, where she grew up. A hundred plates, from Gainsborough to van de Velde, follow the small dramas of the town through portraits and storm-tossed ships.

Pride and Prejudice is an 1813 romantic novel by Jane Austen. It charts the emotional development of the protagonist Elizabeth Bennet, who learns the error of making hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between the superficial and the essential. The comedy of the writing lies in the depiction of manners, education, marriage and money during the Regency era in Britain.Mr. Bennet of the Longbourn estate has five daughters, but his property is entailed, meaning that ...

Emma is a comic novel by Jane Austen, first published in December 1815, about the perils of misconstrued romance. The main character, Emma Woodhouse, is described in the opening paragraph as "handsome, clever, and rich" but is also rather spoiled.This edition includes:* 12 tinted line drawings by C. E. Brock (1898)* 24 watercolors by C. E. Brock (1909)* 39 black and white drawings by Hugh Thomson (1896)

The Complete Novels of Elizabeth Gaskell (Illustrated Edition) gathers the major fictional achievements of one of Victorian literature's most humane and socially alert voices, from the industrial tragedy of Mary Barton and the moral daring of Ruth to the provincial comedy of Cranford, the labor-capital tensions of North and South, the historical breadth of Sylvia's Lovers, and the unfinished grace of Wives and Daughters. Gaskell's style combines documentary realism, domestic intimacy, iron...

Persuasion is the last novel fully completed by Jane Austen. It was published at the end of 1817, six months after her death.The story concerns Anne Elliot, a young Englishwoman of 27 years, whose family is moving to lower their expenses and get out of debt. They rent their home to an Admiral and his wife. The wife’s brother, Navy Captain Frederick Wentworth, had been engaged to Anne in 1806, and now they meet again, both single and unattached, after no contact in more than seven y...

The period of "Ivanhoe" is a few months subsequent to "The Talisman." Richard I has abandoned his Crusade, and, after an incarceration in an Austrian prison returns to his English throne to find plots against him headed by his brother John, and also a general state of unrest. Normans and Saxons still quarrel, and the story as a whole gives an admirable picture of feudal times. Ivanhoe is the only son of Cedric the Saxon, and has been disinherited by his father on account of his love for Ce...

Elizabeth Gaskell's 'The Complete Novels of Elizabeth Gaskell' showcases the prolific works of this esteemed Victorian author, providing readers with a comprehensive collection of her novels. Known for her social commentary and insightful character portrayals, Gaskell's literary style is characterized by a rich and detailed narrative that delves into issues of class, gender, and morality. Set against the backdrop of 19th-century England, her novels offer a captivating glimpse into the live...

Elizabeth Gaskell's 'Cranford' is a novel that provides a glimpse into the lives of the inhabitants of a small English town during the early 19th century. Through her satirical and witty writing style, Gaskell not only portrays the idiosyncrasies of the town's characters but also delves into the themes of social class, female friendships, and the changing landscape of rural England. 'Cranford' is often considered a classic of Victorian literature, known for its sharp observations and nuanc...

Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford is a delicately comic yet deeply humane portrait of a small Cheshire town governed largely by genteel, unmarried women whose rituals of economy, etiquette, friendship, and memory form an alternative social order. First serialized in Household Words, the novel's episodic structure and conversational narrative voice place it within Victorian domestic realism while resisting the grand plot machinery of industrial or sensation fiction. In this illustrated edition, ...