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This episode is brought to you by a new deck of playing cards.

Tonight, we'll read the opening to Cranford, a novel by the English writer Elizabeth Gaskell,

who first published in 1853. The work slowly became popular and from the start of the 20th century,

it saw a number of dramatic treatments for the stage, radio, and TV.

The fictional town of Cranford is based on the author's childhood hometown of Nutsford in England.

The stories within portray the old-fashioned class snobbery prevalent in country towns at the time.

Charles Dickens encouraged Gaskell to turn her stories into the completed novel.

If you enjoy this episode, be sure to listen to our August 2021 episode North and South from the same author.

Let's get cozy. Close your eyes.

Relax your body into the softness of your bed.

Now, take a few deep breaths.

Chapter 1 Our Society

In the first place, Cranford is in possession of the Amazon's.

All the holders of houses above a certain rent are women.

If a married couple come to settle in the town, somehow the gentleman disappears.

He is either fairly frightened to death by being the only man in the Cranford evening parties,

or he is accounted for by being with his regiment, his ship,

or closely engaged in business all the week in the great neighboring commercial town of Drumble,

distant only 20 miles on a railroad.

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