Top 100 Classic Books Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell was an English novelist, biographer, and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of Victorian society, including the very poor, and are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature. Collected Short Stories I introduces us to a set of characters who take turns to recount stories to one another during their weekly soiree. An Accursed Race is actually an essay about a persecuted minority group, the Cagots in Western France. The Doom of the Griffiths is a gothic short story about a cursed family and set in Wales.