Elizabeth Gaskell was a Victorian writer, mother, wife of a Unitarian minister, colleague and rival of Charles Dickens, and social activist.
She was born in London in 1810, the daughter of a Unitarian minister. Her mother died soon after the birth, and she was raised by an aunt in Knutsford. Her happy memories of Knutsford inspired
Cranford, her best known work.
In 1832 she married William Gaskell, and they settled in the industrial city of Manchester where she lived until shortly before her death in 1865, busy in motherhood and being a minister's wife. The death of her only son in infancy strengthened her sense of identity with the poor and her desire to relieve their suffering, and her husband encouraged her to write. Her most prominent traits were compassion and tolerance.
Sylvia's Lovers was published by Smith, Elder and Co. in 1863, firstly in a three volume edition and then in an illustrated single volume edition. It is set in Yorkshire at the time of the Napoleonic wars, and most of the dialogue is in dialect. The background portrays the oppression of the poor at that time, particularly the 'Press Gang'. The main themes are almost parodies of romance, with William loving Hester who loves Philip who is besotted with Sylvia who passionately loves Charley who is inclined to love them and leave them; and of suffering with grief piled on grief and coincidence piled on coincidence. Mrs Gaskell is reported to have written that this was the saddest story she had ever written.
The source text cannot be named since after checking it against the 1863 three volume edition I have silently corrected typos, curled quotes, restored diacritics, italics and scene breaks, set letters and documents as blockquotes, and made changes to spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation using oxforddictionaries.com.
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