Cranford: by Elizabeth Gaskell.

Cranford:- Life in a small town or village in nineteenth century England described with Gaskell's skill at human lives and characters' description - human nature may be pretty much the same, hence the recognition and amusement for a reader, while material life has changed and hence the value of a detailed account by a skilled and observant author.

Mr. Harrison's Confessions:- True if amusing portrait of a small town's attempts to hook the eligible bachelor new in town.

Doom of the Griffiths:- Tale from Wales of a legendary curse on someone who Brutus-like cheated a friend he owed loyalty to, the curse coming true against all possible expectations in a very roundabout way in the precise ninth generation it was for.

Lois The Witch:- Story of an innocent English orphan young girl sent to New England to seek out her only living relative by her dying mother getting caught up in the Salem mayhem due to the prejudiced and ignorant immigrants to the new lands and accused of being a witch due to a young spiteful child's plea for calling attention to herself through accusing someone of witchcraft. Sordid example of religious persecution that would not tolerate, much less understand, differences within branches of the same religion.

Curious, if True :- A man goes about looking for descendants of his illustrious ancestor Calvin in Tours and comes upon a castle with fairy tale personae come alive albeit unrecognisable - they have proceeded to live beyond the tales and are no more the same as described but have grown in directions the authors couldn't have thought of.