Elizabeth Gaskell won fame and notoriety as the author of Mary Barton and The Life of Charlotte Bronte. This biography looks at Gaskell's life and work. Standing as a figure caught up in the religious and political radicalism of mid-19th-century Britain, the book looks at how she observed, from her Manchester home, the brutal but transforming impact of industry, enjoying a social and family life, but distracted by her need to write down the truth of what she saw.