One of the delights of writing a biography is that it is so provisional – you always live in hope that more facts will come to light. Since I wrote this book, for example, John Chapple has published Elizabeth Gaskell: the Early Years (1997), a scrupulously detailed exploration of the background to Gaskell’s life up to her marriage in 1832. This adds fascinating information on her father, William Stevenson; on the milieu of the Stevensons, Hollands and Gaskells; on the naval career of her brother John; and on the sad life of Aunt Lumb, her ‘more than mother’, whose wealthy, unstable husband turns out to have had a second, illegitimate family.写传记的乐趣之一是它是临时性的——你总是希望更多的事实会被揭露出来。例如，自从我写这本书以来，约翰·查普尔（JohnChapple）出版了《伊丽莎白·盖斯克尔：早年》（ElizabethGaskell:the Early Years）（1997），这本书对盖斯克尔1832年结婚前的生活背景进行了细致的探索。这增加了她父亲威廉·史蒂文森（WilliamStevenson）的迷人信息；关于史蒂文森、霍兰德和盖斯凯尔的环境；关于她哥哥约翰的海军生涯；还有她的“母亲以外的人”伦布阿姨的悲惨生活，她的富有而不稳定的丈夫却有了第二个私生子。