Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (née Stevenson), often known simply as Mrs. Gaskell, was an influential English novelist, biographer, and short story writer from the Victorian era. She was born on September 29, 1810, and passed away on November 12, 1865.

Gaskell's literary work offers a detailed portrait of the lives of various strata of Victorian society, including the very poor. Her first novel, Mary Barton, was published in 1848. Among her best-known novels are Cranford (1851–1853), North and South (1854–1855), and Wives and Daughters (1864–1866). These works have been adapted for television by the BBC.

She is also recognized for her biography The Life of Charlotte Brontë, published in 1857, which offered a moral and sophisticated perspective on Charlotte Brontë's life, deliberately omitting more salacious details.