Elizabeth Gaskell: Unitarian Novelist in Industrial Manchester

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) was a widely popular mid-Victorian novelist who was also a strong Unitarian. She lived most of her adult life in Manchester, cradle of the industrial revolution and notorious battle-ground between unions and mill-owners.

Her two novels set in Manchester, Mary Barton and North and South, (click for free e-book) are unique in Victorian fiction in depicting the workers with absolute equality, in showing how they practice mutual aid, and in letting her working-class characters make strong arguments for the right of unions to strike.

She was convinced that social problems can be resolved through dialogue based on equality.

Speaker: Mason Harris

Pianist: Nicola Hamilton

Read the Sermon:  ElizabethGaskell_MasonHarris_July2017

Listen:
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More on Elizabeth Gaskell

You might enjoy listening to the BBC In Our Time podcast on North and South.

People of all ages loved the Library Lion story.

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