Sylvia’s Lovers: An Introduction

I’m hosting a readalong of Sylvia’s Lovers over on Instagram and I’d love to have you join! Please grab a copy of the book and hop on over to check out the weekly discussion posts between now and the end of November.

Hi Readers, welcome to week one of Sylvia’s Lovers! Thank you so much for joining me in reading this novel by Elizabeth Gaskell which, on first glance, seems so disparate from her other works. While Gaskell had focused on contemporary stories set either in industrial settings or sleepy countryside villages, this book is a historical tale set in an English seaside town (inspired by the real whaling village of Whitby). This novel closely parallels the whaling story found in Melville’s “Billy Budd”,  the brooding atmosphere of Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights”, and the enduring passions of Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”. It is to Gaskell’s credit that she could be so heavily inspired by her peers, and yet create an original work that, while it reflects those influences, turns them into a story uniquely its own.