Cranford (1853)

A community of genteel women has perfected the art of making very little money look like a matter of taste. Small rules about visiting, dress and expenditure expose how fragile respectability can be, but Gaskell gives mutual help as much attention as snobbery. This is the gentler, shorter route into the list's interest in household economics. Its linked episodes grow from the 1851–53 serial; expect accumulation and changes of tone rather than one driving plot.