Originally written for Charles Dickens’ Household Words magazine, The Poor Clare is a dark, gothic short novel of thwarted love and a family curse that vividly illustrates the social tensions of Victorian England.
The intentional killing of a woman’s dog unleashes a torrent of rage. In her desire for revenge, the woman curses the dog’s killer: All that the murderer loves most, he will lose.
This haunting tale brilliantly demonstrates Elizabeth Gaskell’s understanding of the tensions between Catholics and Protestants and the harsh realities of class society.
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“Gaskell’s supernatural tale depicts the haunting of young Lucy Gisborne by an evil double. After a supposed witch indirectly curses Lucy for her father’s crime, she finds herself abandoned by all close to her except for one friend and her admirer, a lawyer who also serves as the novel’s narrator. Derek Perkins’s narration embodies the narrator’s balance of reserve and passion. He often reveals the young man’s emotions through a quickening of pace. Although much of story is retold in a secondhand account, Perkins re-creates the characters faithfully when they do speak. He is particularly forceful in the few lines spoken by the mysterious Bridget, in which he uses a sharp Irish brogue. While this is a relatively short audiobook, Perkins is engaging throughout.”
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