£5, includes refreshments and printouts of the passages. Book here.

Slow down, read closely, think and discuss - that's what we are asking you to do in this club. Libby Tempest has choosen a few passages from Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford to rerad and discuss. Turn off your smart phones, step away from the hectic pace of life, and unwind with a cuppa, a piece of cake and a book.

Libby Tempest has been Chair of the Gaskell Society since 2017. She previously ran the Art & Music Libraries in Manchester Central Library and the much-missed Language & Literature Library which contained one of the best Gaskell collections in the UK. She is a volunteer at Chetham’s Library, The Portico and Elizabeth Gaskell’s House.

Elizabeth Gaskell’s House was home to ‘one of the greatest female novelists of all time’. Elizabeth Gaskell is best known for writing the novels Cranford, Ruth, North and South and Wives and Daughters, as well as the biography of her friend Charlotte Brontë. Today Manchester’s very own literary house is a truly hands-on experience that will introduce you to the world of the writer and her family through historic period rooms, Victorian style garden, expert guides and changing exhibitions.