Date: 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865
Place: Manchester
Person: Elizabeth Gaskell
What happened:
Gaskell’s masterpieces, Mary Barton, which was first published anonymously, and North and South, are vivid accounts of poverty in Manchester and reflect her political foresight in the changing industrial age. So controversial was Mary Barton that some mill owners burned copies of the book in protest in front of her husband, a Unitarian minister.
Quotes:
‘It had been thought wiser not to put her name on Mary Barton. Women writers were still regarded suspiciously. But her secret was soon out and when she went to London she was feted as a talented new writer. Charles Dickens, whose David Copperfield was also just published, invited her to dinner. This was the start of a long literary collaboration and friendship. He wanted any novels she could write to serialise in Household Words, a literary magazine he was launching. Cranford…
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