“Lizzie Leigh” is one of Elizabeth Gaskell’s short stories. I found this a little depressing and at times somewhat melodramatic.

The title character is not the heroine of the piece. She is a fallen woman, as such females were known in the 1800s. Her reason for “falling” is because she had a child out of wedlock.

She’s also a missing person, which forms the basic plot of this tale, as her mother and reluctant brother leave their farm to search for Lizzie in Manchester. ( )