North and South

by

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson; 18 hrs and 20 mins

Published by Audible Studios.

ASIN:
B002PNH9YU
4 stars (3 reviews)

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.

35 editions

reviewed North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

Review of 'North and South' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Firstly, despite the overwhelmingly popular review on here, this is not Pride and Prejudice for socialists. There is not an ounce of socialism in this book - the general message is that the masters of industry know best and are hard done by, but that they should still be nice to their workers. It’s not terribly inspiring.

Generally, I found myself more disengaged and bored than anything. For all the deaths in the story, they’re peculiarly lacking in emotional depth so it’s hard to care. The romance, such as it is, is hard to relate to and the resolution feels obvious. None of the peripheral characters feel real, just literary devices.

avatar for PinkFloydian

rated it

4 stars
avatar for SpaceCamel

rated it

5 stars

Subjects

  • Classic Literature
  • Social classes
  • Children of clergy
  • open_syllabus_project
  • Mothers and daughters
  • Young women
  • Fiction
  • Women
  • English literature
  • Gaskell, elizabeth cleghorn, 1810-1865
  • British and irish fiction (fictional works by one author)
  • Young women, fiction
  • England, fiction
  • Mothers and daughters, fiction
  • Fiction, coming of age
  • Social conditions
  • English fiction
  • Fiction in English