The Moorland Cottage

I suppose this could be described as a moral tale. Each character was either all good or all bad, but it was a nice light read with a satisfying ending. As you would expect with Elizabeth Gaskell, the writing is old-fashioned and takes a little time to get used to, but I enjoyed reading it.

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell is perhaps best known for "Cranford." I enjoyed that book with its quaint tales of the fictional town, and I loved the British mini-series as well. So I decided to try another Gaskell work, "The Moorland Cottage." This novella tells of a brother and sister, Andrew and Maggie Browne. The siblings recently lost their father, who apparently was a saintly man much beloved by their neighbors. Their mother, unfortunately, is a bit of a harridan. She strongly favors Andrew and makes Maggie slave away for his benefit. A nearby nobleman, Mr. Buxton, who was friends with Mr. Brown, attempts to help out the family by having them frequently as guests to his mansion. The children befriend Mr. Buxton's son, Frank, and niece, Erminia. Well, Maggie befriends them; Frank and Erminia quickly see Edward for what he is - pompous and self-important. Over the years, Maggie also becomes close to the sickly Mrs. Buxton, who acts as a mentor to the ignored, mousey child. "The Moorland Cottage" heads in fairly obvious directions and the writing lacks some subtlety; in particular, the repetitive scenes demonstrating Mrs. Browne's preference for her son were a bit over-done. Nevertheless, Gaskell writes with genuine emotion and plucks a few heartstrings along the way. I found myself often relating to the characters and finding much truth in the story. Gaskell's writing is even funny in places, and she lands a few social commentary jabs, such as, "[Maggie] had never before ventured into the world, and did not know how common and universal is the custom of picking to pieces those with whom we have just been associating." Although not a classic, this novella is enjoyable and likely to appeal to fans of Jane Austen and similar authors. This review is for the Kindle version, which is a public domain book. The text is generally fine, although I easily found at least a dozen typos. In particular, the word "if" is substituted for "it" on numerous occasions. Also, the paragraph breaks are often wrong, with extra breaks added throughout the book. These errors don't, however, interfere greatly with reading this novella.

This is a bittersweet story that describes the plight of women in the days before Womens' Sufferage. I'm glad I read it on the Kindle because the writer used words that are not commonly used today. It was great to be able to tap on the word and see the definition. As the younger sister with an older brother, I could relate to the favoritism the mother had for her son. Luckily, for me, it wasn't that extreme as it was in the story. The story does drag on a bit and then it rushes to the end quite abruptly. The end was gratifying as it had a happily ever after epilogue. If your budget is tight, this is a good book for you, a decent read for not a lot of dough.

If you are a fan of Lark Rise or Jane Austen, you will enjoy this tale of young people growing up and finding love pit against expectations of parents and society.

I was an English major in college, and have spent the last 50 years trying to read some of the English and other classics that are out there...quite an undertaking. Gaskell is a fine writer and although this might not be her best work, it is certainly worth reading, and I'm glad I did.

This story had potential. The writing made me like a few characters, loath a couple others and even cry a tear or two.... All was rolling along, I'm enjoying the storyline very much - until the last few chapters. The author took an odd turn in the storyline and then abruptly ended it. The turn of events is so strange I'm tempted to look as see if the upload of the public domain title has been tampered with. Is it a strange joke? I also have no idea why the story is called The Moorland Cottage. I expected the dwelling to take on some big significance in the story, but it didn't. Go ahead and skip this one. Instead I recommend The Enchanted April or Understood Betsy. This upload also had a handful of strange typos. I won't score it low for that reason but it could be easily fixed.

I read this book in two days. It is a story you don't want to end!!

The Moorland Cottage is a predictable 19th century British romance (actually written in the 19th century) that follows the literary formula of its day. With that said, sometimes don't you just want to let yourself fall into a romantic novel and pretend it's your life? I don't know anything about the author, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, so I don't know how successful she was, but she succeeded with this little novel. I fell in love, had my hopes dashed, and was rescued from a fate worse than death all in the space of a few hours. Gaskell is no Jane Austin, but Ms. Austen didn't write enough books to satisfy my thirst for a good romantic fairy tale written during a time when those books were the bestselling fiction of their day. If you're in the right frame of mind, pick it up and enjoy.

Gaskell is such a good storyteller and it's fascinating to read her minor works after beginning with a classic like Mary Barton, where she had really honed her craft. Her descriptions are wonderful, but there are real problems with the pacing. I find the treatment of Maggie believable given the way 'heroic' women behave in other novels of the mid 19th century. Women were admired for being martyrs and accepting self-sacrifice for the noble end of supporting their menfolk. It is irritating from a modern perspective but doesn't intrude on the enjoyment of the work. The ending, though, is rushed and unsatisfying.

Another fine piece by Mrs Gaskell. Well thought out characters and wonderful descriptions of the manners and attitude of the times. A total pleasure to read.

The Moorland Cottage is the story of the widow of a respectable clergyman and her two children who live in The Moorland Cottage of the title. The heroine, Maggie, is a very good character - sometimes you might find you want her to stand up for herself a bit more! Her mother dotes on her brother, and he becomes more and more self centred and selfish. He gets more than his just desserts in the end though. I did rather think that the key event near the end of the story was perhaps a little ovr-dramatic for such a story. I downloaded the Kindle edition of this, and agree with the previous reviewer that the ending seemed quite abrupt and then was followed by several totally unconnected pages. I'm not sure sure if this is the 'proper' ending or if there is a bit missing?

Short and sweet, almost gothic. The author is very black and white in the way she portrays the characters; the heroine is pure as the driven while the villain is the blackest of scoundrels who gets his comeuppance in dramatic (but not very credible) fashion. If you take it at the level it's written then it's enjoyable and well worth reading if youjre a Gaskell fan. But it doesn't have any of the subtlety and character colour of Cranford or even Wives and Daughters.

Depressing and boring.