A selection of texts by Elizabeth Gaskell, accompanied by annotations. It brings together Gaskell academics to provide readers with scholarship on her work and seeks to bring the crusading spirit and genius of the writer into the 21st century to take her place as a major Victorian writer.

A fascinating and complex tale of love, poverty, crime, and workers' rights in Manchester during the Industrial Revolution, Gaskell's novel provides an intriguing insight into the lives of workers ground down by long working hours and poor conditions. Helpful footnotes are given when the local dialect becomes too incomprehensible. A socially conscious work, like her subsequent novel, North and South, Mary Barton was highly praised upon publication. Despite being written well over a century ago, it remains as gripping and enjoyable today as it would have been then.This meticulous edition from Heritage Illustrated Publishing is a faithful reproduction of the original text and is beautifully illustrated with a number of atmospheric historical paintings that reflect the mood of the novel.