Sylvias Lovers

"An exotic historical narrative of realistic compulsion Set in the isolated whaling community of Monkshaven during the Napoleonic wars, Sylvia's Lovers is a strange and tragic love story fused with a tale of the press-gangs' evil tyranny over the local people. Left penniless after her father's death and believing that her lover Charley Kinraid is dead, Sylvia reluctantly marries her devoted but deceitful cousin, Philip Hepburn. When Kinraid, now a wartime hero, unexpectedly returns, the passionate and vulnerable Sylvia breaks under the strain and must make the fateful choice between her two lovers. Always a keen psychological observer of human behaviour, Elizabeth Gaskell reveals the unforeseen power of national events on individual lives, exploring how the struggles of ordinary people were intrinsic to the making of English history just prior to the turn of the nineteenth century. The most comprehensive edition available, with introduction, notes, selected criticism, furth