Originally, Cranford was published in eight parts in Charles Dickens' journal, Household Words. The first installment appeared in 1851 with more following in 1852 and finishing in 1853. As Peter Keating suggests in his introduction to the Penguin edition of Cranford, the delay in the installments was due to the writing of Ruth, published in 1853 (Keating 8). Cranford is different from the other novels by Elizabeth Gaskell in that it is the depiction of a small English village and is concerned with the everyday occurrences in the lives of mainly older ladies, rather than the story of a great social problem threatening the lives and security of the characters.