Ruth Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell - Ruth is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in three volumes in 1853. Ruth is a young orphan girl working in a respectable sweatshop for the overworked Mrs Mason. She is selected to go to a ball to repair torn dresses.

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née Stevenson (29 September 1810 12 November 1865), often referred to simply as Mrs. Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of society, including the very poor, and as such are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature.