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Full catalogue / Cranford
Cranford

Elizabeth Gaskell

Cranford

Paper book: €30.99

Digital: €10.99

Original publication
1853
Bilingual edition
12 June 2026
Pages
523
Difficulty
Medium
Genres
Romance, Philosophy
Moods
Feel comforted, Have a laugh
Translated from
English

Book summary

In Cranford, a small country town, almost every house is kept by ladies, often poor, who never talk about money. The narrator, Mary Smith, spends long stays there with Miss Matty, the shy and very kind daughter of the late rector. Along the way we meet a cow dressed in flannel, a love turned down long ago and a fear of burglars that spreads through the whole town.

Elizabeth Gaskell tells of these small lives with gentle humour. A funny, touching book about quiet kindness and helping one another.

Made up of short scenes, like so many visits, it is easy to read in the language you are learning.

The plot

A cow out walking in a woollen waistcoat. Miss Betsy Barker, an old lady of Cranford, loves her cow like her own daughter. One day the cow falls into a pit of lime, a powder that makes her lose almost all her hair.…

The world of the book

A small town where mostly ladies live. Cranford is a small English town in the 19th century. Nearly all the fine houses there belong to women; the men work in a large town nearby. The ladies call on one another between…

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