Where has Elizabeth Gaskell been all my life!

Sometimes I get in this mood where I'm like, "I've ready so many 19th century British novels (something like 65 in the last 7 years), and I really think I've mined out that vein." And that is when, inevitably, I run across another book that shows me something totally new! I mean I suppose it shouldn't be very surprising: this is an entire century of lit…