Elizabeth Gaskell

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810–1865) was an English writer of the Victorian era. She wrote novels and short stories that explored social and economic tensions, particularly the living conditions of working people. Her best-known works include *Mary Barton* (1848), *Cranford*, *North and South*, and *Wives and Daughters*. Gaskell was married to William Gaskell, a Unitarian minister. She was a close friend of Charlotte Brontë and published a biography of her in 1857, after Brontë’s death. Gaskell’s experiences of rural Cheshire and industrial Manchester influenced the settings and characters of many of her works.