Elizabeth Gaskell was a regular contributor to Charles Dickens's weekly magazine, Household Words, from 1850 through to 1858. In addition to three serialized novels, Cranford, North and South, and My Lady Ludlow, Dickens published 18 shorter works by Gaskell, which made her the major literary contributor to the magazine apart from Dickens himself. This collection brings together all of the short stories and non-fiction pieces that Gaskell published in the magazine between 1850 and 1853.

The Old Nurse's Story, is a ghostly tale taken from this collection.