Short Stories (Household Words 1850-51)

Elizabeth Gaskell was a regular contributor to Charles Dickens's weekly Household Words, from its first issue in 1850 through to 1858. In addition to two serialized novels, Cranford and North and South, Household Words carried numerous shorter works by Gaskell. This collection brings together four of these shorter pieces published in 1850 and 1851. Lizzie Leigh and The Heart of John Middleton are Lancashire stories, while The Well of Pen Morfa is set in Wales. Disappearances, written in an journalistic style, reflects on how people sometimes mysteriously disappear. - Summary by Phil Benson