Cranford

This is my first interaction with Elizabeth Gaskell and it was a pleasant experience in parts. The work is slow and ends abruptly. The highlight of the book is English domesticity, through wealth and not so much of it. Its a gentle, homely account of a group of spinsters with the hallmarks of the plot being knitting, crochet, lace, scones and the front-runner, afternoon tea. One most endearing paragraph decribes chasing the moving sunlight entering a room from morning till noon, and at the same time shifting the paper on which to sit on the new carpet to keep it from getting soiled. Homeliness at its comforting best in a pleasing, feel good classic.