Often a thing must be loved before it is lovable

Nineteenth-Century Religion and Literature: an introduction (2007) by Mark Knight and Emma Mason is a recommendable read if you are interested in 19th century British literature and its contexts... with caveats.

The first half (chapters on Dissent, Unitarianism, and the Oxford movement are a very competent summary of trends and phenomenons that aren't easy to describe, and in that way I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone interested in understanding the religious and socio-religious controversies that underlie so much of Victorian Literature. It covers the different eras of dissent, the relationships between Enthusiasm, Presbiterianism, Methodism, Unitarianism, Christian Socialism, the high church/low church/broad church distinctions, the role of industrialization, colonialism and development of the natural sciences in theological debates... it is very complete.

The second half (chapters on Evangelicalism, Secularization, and Catholicism) is... not nearly as good. It is ironic/interesting that what would or should be the easiest part to write is the one the authors seem to have the most difficulty with.

Most of the chapter on Evangelicalism is dedicated To Dickens and Collins' portrayal of it in Bleak House and The Moonstone. I can understand including some perspective of how broad church people regarded Evangelicals, but making it the bulk of the chapter (and then ending with Eliot as a rejection of an Evangelical upbringing) is too biased and not particularly useful if you want to understand Evangelicalism itself and it's authors. I myself am not a sympathizer of Victorian British Evangelicalism by any means, and yet... the missed opportunity to talk about Jane Eyre and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in depth is felt.

It's not that the chapters are devoid of interest; the discussion around secularization touching on A Christmas Carol is very interesting, and so is the discussion of the influence of Catholicism and sacramentality in decadent authors such as Oscar Wilde. But they do feel more like poorly stringed article topics than the sort of systematic explanation one expects from an Introduction.

I'm really sorry, lately it's taking me a while to answer asks :(

I want to make a full guide on Gaskell at some point... when I have finished reading her work. The fact that I haven't read, for example, Mary Barton or Sylvia's Lovers yet influences my recommendations (but of course anyone who has read them can chime in!)

A lot of people, I daresay most, begin Gaskell by North and South, mostly because the 2004 series is very famous and beloved, so they watch it and go for the book. And probably don't read anything by her again because they are disappointed.

I don't think it's the absolute worst place to begin (Ruth would probably be it; it's a very heavy, tragic, sad novel, a blunt social commentary with some reminiscences of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but not with the dexterity that one has), but it's not a good one; the whole process of writing the book and finishing it was plagued by Dickens being jealous and bothersome, which ended up producing some uneven pacing and dei ex machina. Besides that, it sits in a weird spot where it is too bleak for The Austen ReaderTM but not Gothic enough for The Brontë ReaderTM.

The thing with Gaskell is that she was a prolific author who tried her hand at different genres and subgenres, ad who wrote short stories, novellas, and novels. Where to start will depend a lot on what are you the most interested in reading.

If you want something sort of like Austen, the best bet to get an idea of her style and the tone of her lighter work is Mr Harrison's Confessions. It's a fun, cliche story. If you want to commit to a novel, Wives and Daughters is also light and "austenesque", and vastly considered her best work. It is unfinished, but unfinished very, very close to the end (only the last wrap up of the wrap up is missing, but even then most editions carry an editor's note with an explanation of the general idea of what Gaskell had planned for that before she died).

Six Weeks at Happenheim is a bucolic story set in Germany, about a man recovering from illness.

Cranford is more of a bridge novel, also short-ish, between the lighter and the more melancholy, mournful type of story (such as My Lady Ludlow or Cousin Phillis) of reminiscence she used to write.

The 2007 Cranford series is a mash up of Cranford, My Lady Ludlow, and Mr Harrison's Confessions.

Gaskell also wrote several Gothic stories; I haven't read many of those, but I can recommend The Doom of the Griffiths and Lois the Witch as good examples.

She also wrote what I think was the first biography of Charlotte Brontë, titled The Life of Charlotte Brontë. I got this one as a present this Christmas and it is the next work of hers I intend to read!

So... where to start with Gaskell? Another important thing to keep in mind is that, as a writer, she takes her time to set the mood. She likes her purple prose, and you need to slow down to her pace, specially in her novels. So if you had a hard time with, for example, the rhythm of Jane Eyre, perhaps trying a shorter story first to see how you jive with her style of writing can be a good idea.

In short: if you want more of a Austen-y mood, try either Mr Harrison's Confessions or Wives and Daughters.

If you want more of a mix of humor and melancholy, like a distant cousin to the tone of Sense and Sensibility, try Cranford. Also try Cranford if you think stories about old ladies matter!

If you want to read her most famous work at this point, do try North and South. Just don't take it as completely representative of all her work or her talent as a writer. It is a good representation of the social aspect of her novels, and I have heard very often that it is an interesting complement/contrast with Mary Barton (which was her first novel).

If you want some Gothic goodness, start by The Doom of the Griffiths.

I might have been difficult these last couple months as the story took turns I did not care for, but all the same it was a wonderful ride to have with you all.

If Dracula has piqued your interest in Victorian literature, if you want to see how the writing of Mina measures up with the literary tradition that precedes her immediately, I wholeheartedly recommend going for the classic female victorian writers.

The Brontë sisters didn't write horror, but they did write gothic novels; Jane Eyre is the story of a young orphan woman becoming a governess and going to live in a mysterious hall with an enigmatic master. Wuthering Heights refuses catalogation, but a book accurate adaptation of the novel could get an R rating out of violence and gore alone, if it wanted. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall has the mysterious byronic love interest living in a dilapidated home... and it is a woman!

Elizabeth Gaskell was a prolific writer who tried her hand in romance, commedy of manners, gothic tales, and social novels; there's something for each taste.

George Elliot is also known for her melancholy social stories, and if you want to see what an attempt at a perspective of support and defense of Jewish people looked like in the 1870s, you can check her Daniel Deronda.

And that is just the start!