Set in the mid-19th century, & written from the author`s first-hand experience, North & South follows the story of the heroine`s movement from the tranquil but moribund ways of southern England to the vital but turbulent north. Elizabeth Gaskell`s skilful narrative uses an unusual love story to show how personal & public lives were woven together in a newly industrial society. This is a tale of hard-won triumphs
- of rational thought over prejudice & of humane care over blind deference to the market. Readers in the twenty-first century will find themselves absorbed as this Victorian novel traces the origins of problems & possibilities which are still challenging a hundred & fifty years later: the complex relationships, public & private, between men & women of different classes.