Such a sweet, quiet book. It was just what I needed right now. Although the ladies of Cranford can be such terrible snobs and so locked into their social roles, they are also incredibly kind and generous. They're a little bit silly, locked into narrow ways and fashion at least 25 years out of date, but they are also innocent and kind, Miss Matty especially. They're a bit like your elderly aunt who never did get the hang of the VCR--never mind a computer!--but who baked your favorite cookies and taught you card games and blew bubbles with you. She wasn't in step with the real world for the most part, and you liked her better for it.

As the appendices in this version make clear, Gaskell was conflicted about women's social roles, especially for middle-class women, which left them with no useful education and very narrow restrictions on what they could do in life. This comes through clearly in the book; it's what makes the Cranford ladies' snobbery tolerable and their naivety sweet.