North And South

Product Description

As relevant now as when it was first published Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South" skilfully weaves a compelling love story into a clash between the pursuit of profit & humanitarian ideals. This " Penguin Classics" edition is edited with an introduction by Patricia Ingham. 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 Engl&. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton Margaret becomes aware of the poverty & suffering of local mill workers & develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner & self-made man John Thornton as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction. In " North & South" Gaskell skilfully fused individual feeling with social concern & 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 & class differences & the male & female roles portrayed in the novel. This edition also

Includes:: further reading notes & a useful glossary. Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-65) was born in London but grew up in the north of England in the village of Knutsford. In 1832 she married the Reverend William Gaskell & had four daughters & one son who died in infancy. Her first novel " Mary Barton" was published in 1848 winning the attention of Charles Dickens & most of her later work was published in his journals including " Cranford" (1853) serialised in Dickens' " Household Words". She was also a lifelong friend of Charlotte Bronte whose biography she wrote. If you enjoyed " North & South" you might like Jane Austen's " Persuasion" also available in " Penguin Classics". "[ An] admirable story...full of character & power." (Charles Dickens)."