It does not have a compelling story line. Rather, it is more like a collection of short stories all about the women in Cranford. The chapters do carry a thread of story that goes from the beginning to the end, and the characters do develop along the way. So they are not really stand alone stories. The book was published serially, and that's probably why it feels like that.
But the characters are fun, and you can just imagine them doing the things they do.
Elizabeth Gaskill was a contemporary of Dickens. Her writing reflects the times a lot like Dickens' works. She feels a little less preachy to me. Dickens' books feel much more blatant about an agenda. What I've read of hers seems more subtle.
I definitely liked this better than her North and South (although I adored the DVD of North and South). Both books are autobiographical in some of the content, and that usually makes it more interesting for me. That was true for both of these books. I own the DVD for Cranford, but haven't yet watched it. I was waiting until I'd read the book.
Hmmm. . .I'm not sure if that would be my book. Maybe someday I'll give it a try!
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