Brief Lives Elizabeth Gaskell Author:Alan Shelston Highly influential among her peers, Gaskell was the author of more than six novelsincluding the critically acclaimed North and South and Cranfordand was a regular contributor for Dickens’ periodicals. She forged friendships with many contemporary authorsmost famously, perhaps, with Charlotte Brontë. Brontë’s... more » biography, written by Gaskell, is regarded as one of the finest examples of life-writing to this day. Famed for her adeptness at capturing local dialect and the voices of middle-class characters, Gaskell skillfully imbued all her writing with a sense of the intimate and everyday. Due to her prolific letter writing, impeccable records remain of her own daily experiences and thoughts. In this new biography, a brilliant light is shed on the life of the woman behind the writingincluding her writing themes, her literary successes, her marriage, and her humanitarian work.« less