Short Fiction Gaskell, Elizabeth: The Grey Woman, (Illustrated), v1, 6 July 2014

[AlexBell]

Elizabeth Gaskell was a Victorian writer, mother, wife of a Unitarian minister, and social activist.

She was born in London in 1810, the daughter of a Unitarian minister. After her mother's death when she was four she was raised by an aunt in Knutsford, and 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 ministe's wife. The death of her only son in infancy intensified her sense of identity with the poor and her desire to relieve their suffering, and her husband encouraged her to write.

The Grey Woman and Other Tales was published as a collection in 1865, and contains
'The Grey Woman,' partly based on historical fact and suggested by Mrs Gaskell's tours up the Rhine,
'Curious if True,' which is set in France, alludes to fairy tales, and ends with the appearance of a Fairy Godmother,
'Six Weeks at Heppenheim,' a romance set in Germany,
'Christmas Storms and Sunshine,' a mildly satirical tale of two couples where one couple has a baby and one a cat,
'Libbie Marsh's Three Eras,' 'Hand and Heart,' and 'Bessy's Troubles at Home,' all redolent of Sunday School, and
'Disappearances,' an article rather than a short story extolling the benefits of Detective Police.

The source text for this edition was Project Gutenberg 28636-h.htm, checked
against other sources. I have omitted the PG list of corrections and a German hymn, provided a list of sources, added some scene breaks, and silently corrected typos, curled quotes, and made minor changes to spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation using oxforddictionaries.com.

28 July 2014 Updated to Version 2

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