Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell was an English novelist, biographer, and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata Victorian society, including the very poor, and are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature. Mr. Harrison's Confessions is a story of country doctor William Harrison who is prevailed upon by his longtime friend Charles, a bachelor, to dispense some advice on the "wooing and winning" of women's affections.