Described by the Literary Review as "splendid", Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories (1993) by Jenny Uglow (b 1947) is a superb account of the subject's life, right down to the  details of where she worked. This was the family dining room "which had four open doors through which anyone – husband, daughters, servants, house guests (of which there were many) – could walk at any time". (It can still be seen in Elizabeth Gaskell's House in Manchester.) As well as George Eliot, Jenny Uglow has also written brilliantly on Thomas Bewick (whose book Jane Eyre reads) and Sarah Losh.