The Poor Clare

Rage and revenge mix with witchcraft and religion in a high Gothic tale of irredeemable love

One of the most important writers of the Victorian era, especially notable as an era when it was difficult for female writers to be heard, Elizabeth Gaskell is best known as the author of the acclaimed social novels Cranford, Mary Barton, and North and South.

But Gaskell also wrote in other genres. The Poor Clare is one of her Gothic tales, the story of Bridget Fitzgerald, who unwittingly puts a curse on her own estranged daughter and the granddaughter she did not know existed. When she discovers that the curse has fallen on her own kin, Bridget submits herself to the rituals of an obscure religious sect, hoping to lift the curse.

The Poor Clare sensitively treats issues of class and Catholic and Protestant religious tension in Victorian England, and is an innovative and thrilling gem from Gaskell's wide-ranging oeuvre.

ELIZABETH GASKELL (1810-1865) was one of the first writers to treat class and labor relations in her fiction--often having characters speak in their local dialects, which was frowned upon at the time. Charles Dickens was a great fan of her work; he asked her for a story for the first issue of his journal, Household Words, and would go on to publish many other stories and novellas by her. Gaskell was also close to the Brontes and wrote a biography of Charlotte Bronte that did much to establish that writer's literary reputation. Gaskell's Cranford was one of the most popular novels of the Victorian era, and was recently adapted by the BBC, with Judi Dench in the starring role.