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When I heard that this was going to be dramatised in the run up to Christmas I decided to read the book. The only novel of Gaskell’s I have read is ‘North and South’ and considering I thought that was absolutely superb it’s strange I never got round to reading any of her others.

Though ’Cranford’ did not quite reach the heights of ‘North and South’ (and I missed the majority of what has by most accounts been a superb TV adaptation) I did nevertheless really enjoy it. As I have now returned it to the library I can’t give you the back cover blurb.

Nor can I give you the bit I was going to quote as an example of her fine writing, when Mary goes to post a letter to Miss Matty’s long lost brother who is now in India and as she posts it she thinks about her humble writing on this piece of paper and how it will travel across the sea into a different land. It was exquisite. As I intend to buy my own copy I will give the quote in full when I do.

Anyway, to the main review… ‘Cranford’ is novel which has at its core a village whose population is mostly spinsters. Though their lives seem idyllic there is a great deal of sadness and regret and though they may appear to be respectable and well off in most cases this is just show and they’re only a step away from financial ruin.

It is also (like ‘North and South’) a depiction of a world in transition with the coming of the railways and the encroachment of the world of commerce on their quiet country lives. ‘Miss Matty’ who is one of the best and most loveable characters I’ve come across in literature is very much of the old world and there is a sense that her innocent nature is a product of it. Nevertheless when needs must she condescends to enter trade and sell tea, something unthinkable for a respectable lady not many years before.

The changing climate is also indicated by the blurring of what were previous rigid social ranks with Martha and Betty, both domestic servants, rising to heights they would not have reached before. It is also reflected in Lady Glenmire’s marriage to the village doctor Mr.Hoggins.

It is not a typical novel in terms of having a central chronological storyline. It is more a set of interwoven events and characters through which a bigger story about society at that time is told. However, though it may sound insubstantial it is anything but.

What I can’t describe here is the superb quality of the writing, its depth and breadth. Everything about it seemed so much a part of the real world and I felt as though I had stepped into ‘Cranford’ and that while I was reading it everything and everyone in that world made sense. There were some marvellously observant and witty asides, and the narrator, Mary, is often a great source of amusement herself. There’s one particular bit towards the end where she says something about how she is rarely wrong and as her father is never wrong either it must be a hereditary trait. It came up so suddenly in the narrative and brought out such a moment of uncontrolled laughter that I spilled my tea!

This book is a gem, a classic. I wish I had read it sooner so that I could have enjoyed the TV series properly.