The Poor Clare, Elizabeth Gaskell
The Poor Clare, Elizabeth Gaskell
List: $13.95 | Sale: $9.77
Club: $6.97

The Poor Clare

Author: Elizabeth Gaskell

Narrator: Derek Perkins

Unabridged: 2 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/12/2016

Categories: Fiction, Classic

Synopsis

Originally written for Charles Dickens’ Household Words magazine, The Poor Clare is a dark, gothic short novel of thwarted love and a family curse that vividly illustrates the social tensions of Victorian England.The intentional killing of a woman’s dog unleashes a torrent of rage. In her desire for revenge, the woman curses the dog’s killer: All that the murderer loves most, he will lose.This haunting tale brilliantly demonstrates Elizabeth Gaskell’s understanding of the tensions between Catholics and Protestants and the harsh realities of class society.

About Elizabeth Gaskell

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-65) moved from the London of her childhood to Knutsford and later Manchester, and her experience of the differences between North and South deeply informed her writing. Writer of six novels, numerous shorter works and the biography of her great friend Charlotte Brontë, Gaskell was at first published anonymously but later in her own name. Much of her work was serialised in Charles Dickens's widely-read literary weekly, Household Words.

About Derek Perkins

A native of the United Kingdom, Audie and AudioFile Earphones Award winner Derek Perkins's audiobook narration skills are augmented by a knowledge of three foreign languages and a facility with accents. He has narrated numerous titles in a wide range of fiction and nonfiction genres. He is a member of SAG-AFTRA.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Peter

Missing daughter, a curse, a woman accused of witchcraft... this Victorian Gothic novella has it all. Complicated family business, description of the poor and underprivileged, the war in Antwerp against the Austrians, there is even an exorcist present and an excellent overview on the order of the Po......more

Goodreads review by karen

why, elizabeth gaskell, i had no idea…. for some reason, i had always equated elizabeth gaskell with well-behaved women in fancy dress sipping fizzy lemonade in english gardens talking about their suitors or something, but this is a bona fide gothic novella with a little of the old "life's little iro......more

Goodreads review by Nancy

In the front of my edition of this book (the Melville House edition that is part of their wonderful Art of the Novella series), there's a brief note that this particular edition is reprinted from Gaskell's Lizzie Leigh and Other Tales (1896 ed.); it first made its appearance in Dickens' Household W......more

Goodreads review by Jesús

LA CLARISA POBRE Este cuento gótico, la primera obra de Gaskell que leo me gustó pero hay varios aspectos en contra a mi parecer. La historia está llena de enigmas y misterios que sin embargo son predecibles. Bridget Fitzgerald ha trabajado cerca de una familia acomodada de Inglaterra, cuando ellos en......more

Quotes

“Gaskell’s supernatural tale depicts the haunting of young Lucy Gisborne by an evil double. After a supposed witch indirectly curses Lucy for her father’s crime, she finds herself abandoned by all close to her except for one friend and her admirer, a lawyer who also serves as the novel’s narrator. Derek Perkins’s narration embodies the narrator’s balance of reserve and passion. He often reveals the young man’s emotions through a quickening of pace. Although much of story is retold in a secondhand account, Perkins re-creates the characters faithfully when they do speak. He is particularly forceful in the few lines spoken by the mysterious Bridget, in which he uses a sharp Irish brogue. While this is a relatively short audiobook, Perkins is engaging throughout.” AudioFile

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List