The Grey Woman
3/5
()
About this ebook
Elizabeth Gaskell
Mrs Gaskell was born Elizabeth Stevenson in London in 1810. Her mother Eliza, the niece of the potter Josiah Wedgwood, died when she was a child. Much of her childhood was spent in Cheshire, where she lived with an aunt at Knutsford, a town she would later immortalise as Cranford. In 1832, she married a Unitarian minister, William Gaskell (who had a literary career of his own), and they settled in Manchester. The industrial surroundings offered her inspiration for her novels. Gaskell's first novel, Mary Barton, was published anonymously in 1848. The best-known of her other novels are Cranford (1853) and North and South (1855). Elizabeth met Charlotte Brontë in 1850, and they struck up a great friendship. After Charlotte's death in 1855, her father, the Reverend Patrick Brontë, asked Gaskell to write her biography to counteract gossip and speculation. The Life of Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857. Gaskell was also a skilled proponent of the ghost story. Her last novel, Wives and Daughters, said by many to be her most mature work remained unfinished at the time of her death in 1865.
Read more from Elizabeth Gaskell
North and South Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhostly Tales: Spine-Chilling Stories of the Victorian Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Barton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5North And South: The Wild And Wanton Edition Volume 1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A House to Let Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCousin Phillis Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mary Barton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5North And South: The Wild And Wanton Edition Volume 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBig Book of Christmas Tales: 250+ Short Stories, Fairytales and Holiday Myths & Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorth And South: The Wild And Wanton Edition Volume 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greatest Ghost and Horror Stories Ever Written: volume 1 (30 short stories) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Moorland Cottage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMARY BARTON: A Tale of Manchester Life, With Author's Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mr Harrison's Confessions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Nurse's Story and Other Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cousin Phillis Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lois the Witch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life of Charlotte Brontë (Illustrated Edition): Delightful Biography of the Author of Jane Eyre by One of Her Closest Friends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMary Barton (Unabridged): A Tale of Manchester Life, With Author's Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Box Set - The Greatest Ghost and Horror Stories Ever Written: volumes 1 to 7 (100+ authors & 200+ stories) (Halloween Stories) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWives and Daughters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSylvia's Lovers (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sylvia's Lovers, Volume 3 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to The Grey Woman
Related ebooks
The Grey Woman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMemoirs of Emma Courtney Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDracula Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLois the Witch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Yellow Wallpaper Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove in Excess; or, the Fatal Enquiry: A Novel in Three Parts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Turn of the Screw (Wisehouse Classics Edition) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Daughters of Danaus Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Moll Flanders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Room With a View Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Othello: The Moor of Venice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGothic Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Audley's Secret Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mysteries of Udolpho Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Dark Night's Work Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Markheim Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Frankenstein Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Castle of Wolfenbach Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaniel Deronda Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Belinda Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Heir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Kit Bag & Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blood of the Vampire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLover's Vows Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/57 best short stories by Mary Shelley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGoblin Market and Other Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forsaken Inn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Classics For You
The Bell Jar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sun Also Rises: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mythos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5East of Eden (Original Classic Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Scarlet Letter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Count of Monte-Cristo English and French Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Farm: A Fairy Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn French! Apprends l'Anglais! THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: In French and English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad (The Samuel Butler Prose Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confederacy of Dunces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Grey Woman
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
The Grey Woman - Elizabeth Gaskell
THE GREY WOMAN
..................
Elizabeth Gaskell
TENDER HOUSE PUBLISHING
Thank you for reading. In the event that you appreciate this book, please consider sharing the good word(s) by leaving a review, or connect with the author.
This book is a work of fiction; its contents are wholly imagined.
All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.
Copyright © 2015 by Elizabeth Gaskell
Interior design by Pronoun
Distribution by Pronoun
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
The Grey Woman
Portion I.
Portion II.
Portion III.
The Grey Woman
By
Elizabeth Gaskell
The Grey Woman
Published by Tender House Publishing
New York City, NY
First published 1861
Copyright © Tender House Publishing, 2015
All rights reserved
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
About TENDER HOUSE PUBLISHERS
People have been reading Romances since the invention of the written word, and Tender House Publishers has collected one of the Internet’s largest collections of classic Romantic novels and stories for the genre’s most devoted readers.
INTRODUCTION
..................
ELIZABETH GASKELL (1810-1865) WAS A well known British novelist at one of the peak eras for female writers in England. A novelist and short story writer at the height of the Victorian Era, Gaskell’s novels weave a comprehensive, detailed image of the lives of all kinds of different classes in society during that age, ranging from the very poor to the cream of the aristocratic crop. Of course, given the era in which she wrote, Mrs. Gaskell’s writing included a wonderful style of prose that still continues to please literary critics, even while discussing the general themes of the day like religion and poverty.
While novels like North and South dazzled readers, her short stories, particularly Gothic ghost stories, caught the eye of no less a writer than Charles Dickens, who helped get her stories published during the middle of the 19th century.
THE GREY WOMAN
..................
PORTION I.
..................
THERE IS A MILL BY the Neckar-side, to which many people resort for coffee, according to the fashion which is almost national in Germany. There is nothing particularly attractive in the situation of this mill; it is on the Mannheim (the flat and unromantic) side of Heidelberg. The river turns the mill-wheel with a plenteous gushing sound; the out-buildings and the dwelling-house of the miller form a well-kept dusty quadrangle. Again, further from the river, there is a garden full of willows, and arbours, and flower-beds not well kept, but very profuse in flowers and luxuriant creepers, knotting and looping the arbours together. In each of these arbours is a stationary table of white painted wood, and light moveable chairs of the same colour and material.
I went to drink coffee there with some friends in 184 —. The stately old miller came out to greet us, as some of the party were known to him of old. He was of a grand build of a man, and his loud musical voice, with its tone friendly and familiar, his rolling laugh of welcome, went well with the keen bright eye, the fine cloth of his coat, and the general look of substance about the place. Poultry of all kinds abounded in the mill-yard, where there were ample means of livelihood for them strewed on the ground; but not content with this, the miller took out handfuls of corn from the sacks, and threw liberally to the cocks and hens that ran almost under his feet in their eagerness. And all the time he was doing this, as it were habitually, he was talking to us, and ever and anon calling to his daughter and the serving-maids, to bid them hasten the coffee we had ordered. He followed us to an arbour, and saw us served to his satisfaction with the best of everything we could ask for; and then left us to go round to the different arbours and see that each party was properly attended to; and, as he went, this great, prosperous, happy-looking man whistled softly one of the most plaintive airs I ever heard.
His family have held this mill ever since the old Palatinate days; or rather, I should say, have possessed the ground ever since then, for two successive mills of theirs have been burnt down by the French. If you want to see Scherer in a passion, just talk to him of the possibility of a French invasion.
But at this moment, still whistling that mournful air, we saw the miller going down the steps that led from the somewhat raised garden into the mill-yard; and so I seemed to have lost my chance of putting him in a passion.
We had nearly finished our coffee, and our kucken,
and our cinnamon cake, when heavy splashes fell on our thick leafy covering; quicker and quicker they came, coming through the tender leaves as if they were tearing them asunder; all the people in the garden were hurrying under shelter, or seeking for their carriages standing outside. Up the steps the miller came hastening, with a crimson umbrella, fit to cover every one left in the garden, and followed by his daughter, and one or two maidens, each bearing an umbrella.
Come into the house — come in, I say. It is a summer-storm, and will flood the place for an hour or two, till the river carries it away. Here, here.
And we followed him back into his own house. We went into the kitchen first. Such an array of bright copper and tin vessels I never saw; and all the wooden things were as thoroughly scoured. The red tile floor was spotless when we went in, but in two minutes it was all over slop and dirt with the tread of many feet; for the kitchen was filled, and still the worthy miller kept bringing in more people under his great crimson umbrella. He even called the dogs in, and made them lie down under the tables.
His daughter said something to him in German, and he shook his head merrily at her. Everybody laughed.
What did she say?
I asked.
She told him to bring the ducks in next; but indeed if more people come we shall be suffocated. What with the thundery weather, and the stove, and all these steaming clothes, I really think we must ask leave to pass on. Perhaps we might go in and see Frau Scherer.
My friend asked the daughter of the house for permission to go into an inner chamber and see her mother. It was granted, and we went into