Elizabeth Gaskell - Round The Sofa

Round the Sofa is the title of a two-volume collection of short stories by the famous nineteenth-century English novelist and writer Elizabeth Gaskell. It includes "e;My Lady Ludlow,"e; "e;The Half-Brothers"e; and "e;An Accursed Race."e; The latter is in the form of a historical essay that condemns the racism and the persecution exercised on a group of people named the Cagots in the west of France. "e;Round the Sofa"e; is also the title of the first short story of the collection. Narrated in the first person, "e;Round the Sofa"e; takes the form of a preface to the longer "e;My Lady Ludlow."e; The young female narrator is ill and is sent to live near the house of her doctor, Mr. Dawson. After a number of visits, the narrator befriends Mrs. Dawson and expresses her true love for her: "e;But that Mrs. Dawson! The mention of her comes into my mind like the bright sunshine into our dingy little room came on those days; -- as a sweet scent of violets greets the sorrowful passer among the woodlands."e; It is Mrs. Dawson who, after long instance from the narrator, will tell the story of Lady Ludlow, the widowed Countess of Hanbury.