Elizabeth Gaskell

Elizabeth Gaskell
Elizabeth Gaskell: 1832 miniature by William John Thomson
Born	Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson (1810-09-29)29 September 1810 Chelsea, London, England
Died	12 November 1865(1865-11-12) (aged 55) Holybourne, Hampshire, England
Occupation	Novelist
Period	1848–1865
Spouse	William Gaskell ​ (m. 1832)​
Children	5

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (née Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer, and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of Victorian society, including the very poor. Her first novel, Mary Barton, was published in 1848. Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë, published in 1857, was the first biography of Charlotte Brontë. In this biography, she wrote only of the moral, sophisticated things in Brontë's life; the rest she omitted, deciding certain, more salacious aspects were better kept hidden. Among Gaskell's best known novels are Cranford (1851–1853), North and South (1854–1855), and Wives and Daughters (1864–1866), all of which were adapted for television by the BBC.