Elizabeth Gaskell's Unstable Homes

This book examines apparently dichotomous aspects of Gaskell’s short stories: her failed fathers and her travel writing. The analysis links these themes by examining the ways in which Gaskell used a complex mix of unstable cultural ideas to demonstrate the fragility of home and family life and to challenge gendered norms.The analysis of Gaskell’s fictional fathers is considered in the context of n...