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Cranford

by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

Read the complete text of Cranford, with chapter navigation and sentence-by-sentence listening.

~7 hr 25 min · full book27 reading sectionsFree to read
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England -- FictionSisters -- FictionPastoral fictionVillages -- FictionOlder women -- Fiction

Inside this work

  1. 01Front matter~2 min
  2. 02CHAPTER I. OUR SOCIETY~25 min
  3. 03CHAPTER II. THE CAPTAIN — part 1~25 min
  4. 04CHAPTER II. THE CAPTAIN — part 2~10 min
  5. 05CHAPTER III. A LOVE AFFAIR OF LONG AGO~22 min
  6. 06CHAPTER IV. A VISIT TO AN OLD BACHELOR — part 1~25 min
  7. 07CHAPTER IV. A VISIT TO AN OLD BACHELOR — part 2~2 min
  8. 08CHAPTER V. OLD LETTERS — part 1~24 min
  9. 09CHAPTER V. OLD LETTERS — part 2~3 min
  10. 10CHAPTER VI. POOR PETER — part 1~25 min
  11. 11CHAPTER VI. POOR PETER — part 2~5 min
  12. 12CHAPTER VII. VISITING~24 min
  13. 13CHAPTER VIII. “YOUR LADYSHIP” — part 1~25 min
  14. 14CHAPTER VIII. “YOUR LADYSHIP” — part 2~7 min
  15. 15CHAPTER IX. SIGNOR BRUNONI~24 min
  16. 16CHAPTER X. THE PANIC — part 1~25 min
  17. 17CHAPTER X. THE PANIC — part 2~10 min
  18. 18CHAPTER XI. SAMUEL BROWN — part 1~22 min
  19. 19CHAPTER XI. SAMUEL BROWN — part 2~8 min
  20. 20CHAPTER XII. ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED~20 min
  21. 21CHAPTER XIII. STOPPED PAYMENT — part 1~25 min
  22. 22CHAPTER XIII. STOPPED PAYMENT — part 2~3 min
  23. 23CHAPTER XIV. FRIENDS IN NEED — part 1~25 min
  24. 24CHAPTER XIV. FRIENDS IN NEED — part 2~18 min
  25. 25CHAPTER XV. A HAPPY RETURN — part 1~25 min
  26. 26CHAPTER XV. A HAPPY RETURN — part 2~6 min
  27. 27CHAPTER XVI. PEACE TO CRANFORD~19 min

A few words to begin

IN the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazons; all the holders of houses above a certain rent are women. If a married couple come to settle in the town, somehow the gentleman disappears; he is either fairly frightened to death by being the only man in the Cranford evening parties, or he is accounted for by being with his regiment, his ship, or closely engaged in business all the week in the great neighbouring commercial town of Drumble, distant only twenty miles on a railroad. In short, whatever does become of the gentlemen, they are not at Cranford. What could they do if they were there? The surgeon has his round of thirty miles, and sleeps at Cranford; but every man cannot be a surgeon. For keeping the trim gardens full of choice flowers without a weed to speck them; for frightening away little boys who look wistfully at the said flowers through the railings; for rushing out at the geese that occasionally venture in to the gardens if the gates are left open; for deciding all questions of literature and politics without troubling themselves with unnecessary reasons or arguments; for obtaining clear and correct knowledge of everybody’s affairs in the parish; for keeping their neat maid-servants in admirable order; for kindness (somewhat dictatorial) to the poor, and real tender good offices to each other whenever they are in distress, the ladies of Cranford …

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