Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (née Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer, and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of Victorian society, including the very poor, and are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature. Her first novel, Mary Barton, was published in 1848. Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë, published in 1857, was the first biography of Brontë. In this biography, she only wrote of the moral, sophisticated things in Brontë’s life, the rest she left out, deciding that certain, more salacious aspects were better kept hidden. Among Gaskell's best known novels are Cranford (1851–53), North and South (1854–55), and Wives and Daughters (1865), each having been adapted for television by the BBC.
Ellinors moder er død, og hun vokser op som et forkælet enebarn hos sin fader, Edward Wilkins, der er sagfører i et engelsk landdistrikt. Faderen har honette ambitioner og bruger penge på at bevise sin afstamning, men den lokale adel, der gerne benytter ham til deres forretninger, ler ad ham bag hans ryg. Han bruger umådelige summer af sin arvede rigdom uden at gøre sig rede for sine formuesforhold, og henfalder efterhånden til drikkeri og lediggang.
Under et ophedet skænderi med en ansat får denne et hjerteslag og falder død om. Wilkins tror imidlertid, at han har myrdet manden, og i sin panik graver han sammen med datteren og en gammel staldkarl liget ned i baghaven.
Men denne ene nats uoverlagte værk kommer til at trække lange skygger over de impliceredes liv.
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