The Poor Clare Esprios Classics

A departure from the stories Elizabeth Gaskell wrote for Charles Dickens's Household Words magazine, The Poor Clare is a dark, gothic novella of thwarted love and a family curse that vividly illustrates the social tensions of Victorian England. The purposeful slaying of lonely Bridget's beloved dog unleashes a torrent of rage that surges down through the generations. In her desire for revenge, Bridget utters a fearsome curse upon the dog's killer: All that the murderer loves most, he will lose. This haunting story of "the sins of the father being visited upon the children" brilliantly shows off Gaskell's pioneering understanding of the tensions between Catholics and Protestants, and the harsh realities of class society. The Poor Clare stands as an innovative and exciting gem in Elizabeth Gaskell's oeuvre.

Classic Book Hall of Frame

Reproduction of the original.

'The Poor Clare' is a short story by English Victorian writer Elizabeth Gaskell. The story is narrated by an unnamed young lawyer from London, reflecting on the "extraordinary incidents" which he experienced in his youth. The story proper begins several decades before. Squire Starkey, a recusant Jacobite, returns to Starkey Manor with his Irish wife and their son Patrick. Accompanying them is their Irish Catholic servant, Madam Starkey's former nurse, Bridget FitzGerald and her daughter Mary, who take up a small cottage in the grounds of the manor. Bridget comes to exercise great control over the household. Some years later, due in part to an increasingly fractious relationship with her mother, Mary FitzGerald leaves Starkey Manor to take up a position on the Continent. Racked with grief at her daughter's departure, Bridget keeps to her cottage until Madam Starkey brings her a young spaniel, Mignon, who becomes her constant companion. She receives occasional letters from Mary, the last informing her that she was going to marry a gentleman.