“The story of John Halifax, Gentleman, was first published in 1856, nine years after Jane Eyre, seven years after David Copperfield, six years after Vanity Fair, and fifteen years before Middlemarch, to all of which it bears some similarities Written by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, the book appeared in three-volume form and was the biggest success among her numerous books. The novel is sentimental and romantic in tone, but weaves a poignant story of the value of family in an always uncertain world and manages to (gently) confront a number of issues typical to its day.’