THE LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË

COUSIN PHILLIS

In the title story of this collection, Mr Holdsworth, a railway engineer, falls in love with Phillis Holman and she with him, although they do not declare their feelings. He is sent to Canada but confides to his friend, Paul Manning, that he intends to return to England and ask for her hand in marriage.

CRANFORD

This is a series of (mainly humorous) vignettes detailing the everyday lives of the inhabitants of a 19th century village.

THE ELIZABETH GASKELL COLLECTION: A BBC DRAMA COLLECTION

This comprehensive collection comprises dramas and readings of Elizabeth Gaskell's finest works and some lesser-known pieces. Among the adaptations are her final, unfinished novel Wives and Daughters, her debut novel Mary Barton and her only historical novel, Sylvia's Lovers; as well as the 1851 novella Mr Harrison's Confession (a prequel to Cranford), and her great novel of industrialisation, female independence and identity, North and South. All feature star casts including Emerald O'Hanrahan, Sue Johnston, Jodie Comer, Emily Mortimer, Rod Hudd, David Threlfall, Julian Rhind-Tutt,

GOTHIC TALES

Elizabeth Gaskell's chilling Gothic Tales blends the real and the supernatural to eerie, compelling effect. 'Disappearances', inspired by local legends of mysterious vanishings, mixes gossip and fact; Lois the Witch, a novella based on an account of the Salem witch hunts, shows how sexual desire and jealousy lead to hysteria; while in 'The Old Nurse's Story', a mysterious child roams the freezing Northumberland moors. Whether darkly surreal, such as 'The Poor Clare', where an evil doppelgänger is formed by a woman's bitter curse, or mischievous like 'Curious, If True', a playful reworking of fairy tales, all the stories in this volume form a stark contrast to the social realism of Gaskell's novels, revealing a darker and more unsettling style of writing.

MARY BARTON

A portrait of life in Manchester in the Hungry Forties of the 19th century, and also a grippingly told love story and murder plot enlivened by the author's genius for making her characters so individually human.

NORTH AND SOUTH

Forced to move from the rural tranquillity of southern England to the northern mill town of Milton, Margaret Hale takes an instant dislike to the dirt and noise of her new home and its inhabitants - even the handsome cotton mill owner, John Thornton. But as she begins to understand the nature of the poverty, events conspire to throw her and Thornton together. Amidst the chaos of industrial unrest, they must learn to overcome the prejudices of class and admit their feelings for one another.

NORTH AND SOUTH: A BBC RADIO 4 FULL-CAST DRAMA

When 19-year-old Margaret Hale is uprooted from her home in the rural South of England and transplanted to the industrial North, she struggles to adapt. Smoky, grimy and ugly, Milton seems like a different country - one run by men with very different beliefs to her own, like charismatic mill owner John Thornton. A self-made entrepreneur and pragmatic capitalist, Thornton represents everything the idealistic Margaret hates. Witnessing the conditions at his mill, her social conscience is awakened, and she clashes fiercely with him over his ruthless treatment of the workers. But when a strike turns into a violent riot, and Thornton is put in danger, Margaret is forced to face up to her conflicted feelings. Can the duo overcome their ideological differences and find love?

SYLVIA'S LOVERS

It is the 1790s in the coastal town of Monkshaven. Sylvia Robson's lover, Charley, is carried off by a press-gang, but writes to her, promising constancy. Unfortunately, the letter is entrusted to Sylvia's cousin, Philip, who keeps it from her in order to marry her himself. Years later Charley returns, and Philip's treachery is discovered, with disastrous consequences.