North and South (Penguin Classics)
As relevant now as when it was first published, this classic tale weaves a love story with the clash between the pursuit of profit and humanitarian ideals
When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the North of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction.
In North and South Gaskell skilfully fused individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale created one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature. In her introduction Patricia Ingham examines Elizabeth Gaskell's treatment of geographical, economic and class differences, and the male and female roles portrayed in the novel. This edition also includes further reading, notes and a useful glossary.
"[An] admirable story ... full of character and power" —Charles Dickens
When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the North of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction.
In North and South Gaskell skilfully fused individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale created one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature. In her introduction Patricia Ingham examines Elizabeth Gaskell's treatment of geographical, economic and class differences, and the male and female roles portrayed in the novel. This edition also includes further reading, notes and a useful glossary.
"[An] admirable story ... full of character and power" —Charles Dickens
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Community Reviews
Like nearly all classic literature, North and South features timeless conflicts and issues. This novel features a wonderful heroine, Margaret Hale, who must move (reluctantly) with her family to a gritty industrial town in the north of England after her father steps down from a comfortable position as a rector in a more socially desirable southern town.
Margaret, like almost everyone of her social station in England at that time, has prejudices about people involved in "trade," yet finds herself in an environment where everyone is either a tradesman or a worker. When she discovers the suffering of the oppressed workers in her town of Milton, she develops a passionate sense of social justice, while also learning to understand the struggles of the businesses owners. Margaret's new-found social conscience is tried by a love interest, a local business owner. It's a wonderful story, told intelligently and wryly by the wonderful Gaskell.
Margaret, like almost everyone of her social station in England at that time, has prejudices about people involved in "trade," yet finds herself in an environment where everyone is either a tradesman or a worker. When she discovers the suffering of the oppressed workers in her town of Milton, she develops a passionate sense of social justice, while also learning to understand the struggles of the businesses owners. Margaret's new-found social conscience is tried by a love interest, a local business owner. It's a wonderful story, told intelligently and wryly by the wonderful Gaskell.
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