I wanted to like this more than I did because I adore North and South, and I think what Elizabeth Gaskell is doing here in elevating Victorian women’s experiences is really important. However, pretty boring overall.

This book is so lovely and charming. The wit of the writing reminds me of Jane Austen (yep, I said it) and I found myself grinning like a fool at the wry observations throughout. I can see how people would think this book is about nothing because there's not one cohesive plot throughout, but it's a great glimpse into the "woman's sphere" in the mid 1800s.

It was ok, but honestly a bit boring...

Very fun, cute, cozy, and delightful!

It's a Victorian sitcom! Loved it!

This is a first POV told by a young woman who has friends in Cranford. She gives the outsider POV but also has an intimate knowledge of the inhabitants of this genteel backwater where ladies call after the noon hour and don't stay longer then 15 minutes.

The stories (originally published in magazine installments) are also slow moving and have subtle humor that if you are not reading carefully will miss it. Such as Mrs. Forester hiring a boy to stay at her house to guard against robbers, while at the same time admitting that he sleeps very soundly after the good meals she gives him.

While there are some side romances, this isn't a "romance" book and is more about customs and small town gossiping and kindness. It is populated with scatty elderly ladies who are afraid of men, while at the same time venerate them with having special knowledge above their own. Even our narrator (who moves through the tale with almost no background) finds their behavior quaint and perhaps too good the wider cynical world.

A contemporary of Dickens, Gaskell's work has a feminine aspect that I find more interesting to read. Her tales are more approachable than Dickens and has the appeal of not being as well known. For those interested in the time period, it gives a glimpse into the manners of the mid 1850's (though much of the earlier 1800s is in evidence in the age and history of the ladies).

It was also rather nice to read a book that while written around 1853, treats the portions about India in a non-racist manner. Instead, the Mrs. Brown who is trying to get back to England with her child, is actually helped by natives along her journey. This type of treatment in literature at the time isn't usual so I think it's worth a mention.

Author Elizabeth Gaskell may be better known for her book North and South (which was made into a series starring Richard Armitage - yum), however, her short vignettes about the spinster and widow ladies of Cranford also has a television adaption. Whoever did the adaptation of Cranford changed some things in order to make a more comprehensive whole series but they did a masterful job of it. Reading the book, and watching the series enhances the other.

A nice set of tales to dip into, which don't require a lot of thought, but can give comfort.

Very genteel.

I loved this novel, or rather, more of a short story at only 187 pages long. It was gorgeous. Cranford focuses on a group of women, not quite in poverty but not rich by any means, in a town that doesn't age with the rest of the country, stuck in its ways of old. I had a lovely time reading this. Mary Smith was a great narrator, and I'm glad I eventually found out her name! Miss Matty was glorious, her character was brilliant. And the way that the women all banded together and they were a slight mix of classes purely because they all wanted to live the same way was so precious.

Elizabeth Gaskell's writing just makes me fall in love in the best way. I'll be continuing on reading her novels. She's possibly my favourite classical author. I am obsessed.

3 1/2 stars

even when i read this book, five years ago, i had nothing to say about it.

so i certainly have nothing to say now.

part of a series i'm doing in which i review books i read a long time ago, except i almost never do that