The tale of a rural habitation in the late 19th Century and the effect of industrialisation on the local community.

Seventeen year old Phillis lives on Hope Farm with her parents Minister Ebenezer Holman and his simple wife. Her second cousin Paul Manning, at first reluctantly, comes to visit. He is the son of a rising inventor from Birmingham and is employed as a clerk to Edward Holdsworth, the managing engineer of a railway company laying a line close to the farm. When Paul introduces his new employer and friend to Phillis he little realises the traumatic effect this will have on the young girl.

Elizabeth Gaskell is never judgemental and sketches a subtle portrait of an unsophisticated mode of living that once touched by irresistible forces will never be the same again.

Collection	Narrator	Length
Victorian	Peter Joyce	4 hrs 45 mins

Media	Compact Disc	Audio Tape
Media Qty	4	3
Audio Format	CD-DA	Analogue
Book Code	VI-121CD	VI-121TA
ISBN	978 1 86015 007 4	978 1 86015 475 1
Price	£13.49	£11.99

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810 –1865) often referred to simply as Mrs. Gaskell, was a British novelist and short story writer. She is today ranked among the most highly regarded British novelists of the Victorian era.

Born in Chelsea London, she lived with an aunt in Cheshire after her mother died when she was a child. She became popular for her writing, especially her ghost story writing, aided by her friend Charles Dickens, who published her work in Household Words. Her Father and husband were also writers. After marriage she settled in Manchester where the industrial surroundings would offer inspiration for her novels.

Even though her writing conforms to Victorian conventions (including signing her name "Mrs. Gaskell"), Gaskell usually frames her stories as critiques of Victorian era attitudes, particularly those toward women, with complex narratives and dynamic women characters. Gaskell's style is notable for putting local dialect words into the voice of middle-class characters and of the narrator.

Click here to find out more about Elizabeth Gaskell.

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