REVIEW: Sylvia’s Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell

I first became aware of Elizabeth Gaskell through television adaptions of her works Cranford and North and South; I then went on to read and enjoy those books. Sylvia’s Lovers is, by my count, the sixth Gaskell book I have read (I think I only have two left after this, though there are also some novellas and short stories to delve in to after that).

Before reading this book I read that Gaskell had called Sylvia’s Lovers “the saddest story I ever wrote”, which gave me pause. Aside from Cranford,...