
'He's spoilt my life, - he's spoilt it for as long as iver I live on this earth'
The compelling story of an ordinary girl's tragic passion for a man who disappears, Sylvia's Lovers (1863) is Elizabeth Gaskell's last completed novel. Set in a fictional...


Elizabeth Gaskell's only historical novel, Sylvia's Lovers, is set in 1790 in the seaside town of Monkshaven (Whitby) where press-gangs wreak havoc by seizing young men for service in the Napoleonic wars. One of their victims is whaling harpooner, Charley Kinraid, whose charm...


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On the north-eastern shores of England there is a town called Monkshaven, containing at the present day about fifteen thousand inhabitants. There were, however, but half the number at the end of the last century, and it was at that period that the events narrated in the following...

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original...


"Sylvia's Lover's," by Elizabeth Gaskell, is a marvelous evocation of life in a rugged Yorkshire whaling town in the late 1700s. The English are at war with the French (again) and the vividly depicted harbor town bustles with whaling activity while the King's press gangs roam...

In "Sylvia's Lovers," Elizabeth Gaskell weaves a poignant narrative set in the early 19th century, exploring the intersection of love, duty, and societal change. The novel's rich prose and evocative descriptions transport readers to the coastal town of Monk's Haven, where the...

Set in a coastal English town during the early phases of the Napoleonic Wars in the 1790s, Sylvia's Lovers follows the complicated love life of a young woman. Sylvia Robson lives a very happy life with her parents on a farm. Her cousin, a kind but dull Quaker man named...




Sylvia is a heroine loved by two men of completely different types. The novel follows her development from a wilful, imaginative, but not especially clever girl, to an alert woman who has been matured by her suffering.

Sylvia's Lovers is set during the French Revolutionary Wars in the remote whaling-port of Monkshaven in Yorkshire where the sea dominates the lives of the inhabitants. The people of Monkshaven hate the French, but they live in greater and more immediate fear of the callous press-gang,...

Sylvia's Lovers (1863) is a novel written by Elizabeth Gaskell, which she called "the saddest story I ever wrote".

Sylvia's Lovers (1863) is a novel written by Elizabeth Gaskell, which she called "the saddest story I ever wrote".

Sylvia's Lovers (1863) is a novel written by Elizabeth Gaskell, which she called "the saddest story I ever wrote".

Sylvia's Lovers (1863) is a novel written by Elizabeth Gaskell, which she called "the saddest story I ever wrote".

Sylvia's Lovers (1863) is a novel written by Elizabeth Gaskell, which she called "the saddest story I ever wrote".


Sylvia's Lovers is a novel written by Elizabeth Gaskell, which she called "the saddest story I ever wrote".