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Title: The Poor Clare

Author: Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

Narrator: Derek Perkins

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-30-15

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Classics, British Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Originally written for Charles Dickens' Household Words magazine, The Poor Clare is a dark, gothic short novel of thwarted love and a family curse that vividly illustrates the social tensions of Victorian England. The intentional killing of a woman's dog unleashes a torrent of rage. In her desire for revenge, the woman curses the dog's killer: All that the murderer loves most, he will lose. This haunting tale brilliantly demonstrates Elizabeth Gaskell's understanding of the tensions between Catholics and Protestants and the harsh realities of class society.

Members Reviews:

Great book

Elizabeth Gaskell is the greatest.

Another perfect denouement from Elizabeth Gaskell!

I read The Poor Clare in a book of Gaskell's short works entitle Gothic Stories. The first chapter is very long and full of background which is truly extraneous to the main story. All authors of the nineteenth century were paid by the word and The Poor Clare, like much of Gaskell's work, was first published in a magazine. But we are introduced to a cast of characters and a plot in this first chapter which are essential to the story. The start of the second chapter may be my favorite part of the book because the narrator of the novel chooses NOW to introduce himself! He then goes on to explain his whole life to us from birth to the present day. This account of his life appears to be completely unrelated to anything in the very long first chapter. This second chapter introduces us to a completely new set of characters and a new plot which appears to be unrelated to the first chapter. I LOVE IT! Of course, the plots do intersect before the end of this second long chapter. Its in the second chapter that the supernatural element steps in. Its not a ghost story, but I don't think that I should give away what it is. The genesis of the evil is a curse and one of the morals from this book is that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children. That is a strong theme of this wonderful short novel and the ending is superb, a perfect denouement which is why we liked North and South so much. Three cheers for Elizabeth Gaskell! Ps. History buffs like myself will love the account in this book of a rebellion in Antwerp against the Austrian army of occupation.

Not Gaskell's best

As I read the story, I kept wondering if there had been a mistake: Was I really reading Elizabeth Gaskell's work? Had her book title accidentally been placed on some other novelette? (The title of the story only makes sense at the end.)

Where most of Gaskell's plots utilize natural means to move the story, this one is anchored in the supernatural. There is a copious amount of backstory before the reader arrives at an explanation that employs no little amount of religious mysticism. I'd liken the story's resolution to a scene from Les Miserables for all of its pathos. I suppose it will please some readers, but I was disappointed.

Unusual work

A short story which was an unexpected surprise in the subject matter written by Mrs. Gaskill. In this tale it is written about curses, witchcraft, exorcism just to touch on the subject matter. I can't say it was one of her best works but it was unusual and interesting.

Two Stars

Not one of Gaskell's best but an interesting and unusual potrayal of English post-Reformation Catholicism. With demons.