Cranford / Cousin Phillis (Penguin Classics)
Books / Paperback
ISBN: 0140431047 / Publisher: Penguin Classics, January 1977
Two of the nineteenth-century novelist's shorter works, in which she analyzes a country town besieged, at a critical time, by forces beyond its ken and presents an unfulfilled love affair which pits old values against new
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Cranford depicts the lives and preoccupations of the inhabitants of a small village - their petty snobberies and appetite for gossip, and their loyal support for each other in times of need. The village is dominated by women, from the kindly spinster Miss Matty, living in genteel poverty with her redoubtable sister, to Lady Glenmire, who shocks everyone by marrying the doctor. When men do appear, such as 'modern' Captain Brown or Matty's suitor from the past, they bring disruption and excitement to the everyday life of Cranford. This volume also includes the novella Cousin Phillis, which depicts a fleeting love affair in a rural community at a time when old values are being supplanted by new. Both works are exquisitely observed tragicomedies of human nature, told with great delicacy and affection.
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