Wives And Daughters

The picture and sound quality is as good as the production values.

The special feature goes into some depth about the life and times of "the forgotten genius", Elizabeth Gaskell. Married to a minister in Manchester, she discovered poverty first hand from administering to the poor. She was deeply affected. She started writing after her young son died of scarlet fever and was encouraged by Charles Dickens, amongst others. Her compassion and realistic detail is noted by the literary commentators, which include Margaret Drabble and Joan Bakewell.

"She speaks person to person," Drabble says. "She considers that all people are worthwhile."

Essentially, optimistic and life enhancing, she was affected by the teaching of the Unitarian church and is considered by some "deeper and more complex than Jane Austen."

Later in life, she travelled to Italy and lived in Rome, where she met a handsome American scholar.