North and South (1855)

Others: Overwhelmingly positive

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 the 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, Elizabeth Gaskell skillfully fuses individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale creates one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature.

ISBN:: 9780099511489
Length:: 450 pages

Genres: classics

Lists: …

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Reviews6

Books and ThingsJun 2025

Loved it

I just love everything about it. It has probably my favorite love story in all of literature.

1 of 8

Jack EdwardsSep 2022

Loved it

I'm personally of the opinion that Charles Dickens got all the praise that Elizabeth Gaskell deserved it's way better than his books it's genuinely interesting it's about a woman who moves from Hampshire with her family to the industrial north of England there's a lot story but it's also about capitalism and the treatment of workers and it's really great.