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North and South

(Penguin Popular Classics)

By Elizabeth Gaskell

(159)

| Paperback | 9780140620191

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Book Description

Mary Gaskell's North and South examines the nature of social authority and obedience and provides an insightful description of the role of middle class women in nineteenth century society. Through the story of Margaret Hale, a southerner who moves to the northern industrial town of Milton,
GaskeContinue

Mary Gaskell's North and South examines the nature of social authority and obedience and provides an insightful description of the role of middle class women in nineteenth century society. Through the story of Margaret Hale, a southerner who moves to the northern industrial town of Milton,
Gaskell skillfully explores issues of class and gender, as Margaret's sympathy for the town mill workers conflicts with her growing attraction to the mill owner, John Thornton. This new and revised expanded edition sets the novel in the context of Victorian social and medical debate.

6 Reviews

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  • 4 people find this helpful

    Chick Lit with Serious Realism

    I think this is a book would please any girl who loves chick lit, and at the same time, satisfy all who want to feel they are serious about literature (and so will not read giddy, lightheaded novels). Gaskell manages a good balance between the romance she allows her main characters and the social e ... (continue)

    I think this is a book would please any girl who loves chick lit, and at the same time, satisfy all who want to feel they are serious about literature (and so will not read giddy, lightheaded novels). Gaskell manages a good balance between the romance she allows her main characters and the social economical issues that are her main concern for writing this book. She also manages to preach without being too pushy in her prose. It is a very enjoyable read, gushing and romantic, but also serious and not giddy.

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    Meem said on Dec 12, 2007 | Add your feedback

  • 3 people find this helpful

    *** This comment contains spoilers! ***

    Oh MIo DIO

    While she sought for this papaer, her very heart-pulse was arrested by the tone in which Mr. Thornton spoke. His voice was hoarse, and trembling with tender passion as he said: "Margaret!".
    For an istant she looked up; and then sought to veil her luminous eyes by dropping her forehead on her hands. ... (continue)

    While she sought for this papaer, her very heart-pulse was arrested by the tone in which Mr. Thornton spoke. His voice was hoarse, and trembling with tender passion as he said: "Margaret!".
    For an istant she looked up; and then sought to veil her luminous eyes by dropping her forehead on her hands. Again, stepping nearer, he besought her with another tremulous eager call upon her name.
    "Margaret!"
    Still lower went the head; more closely hidden was the face, almost resting on the table before her. He came close to her, He knelt by her side, to bring his face to a level with her ear; and whispered - panted out the words-: "Take care -If you do not speak - I shall claim you as my own in some strange presumptuous way. - Send me away at once, if I must go; - Margaret!"
    At that third call she turned her face, still covered with her small white hands, towards him, and laid it on his shoulder, hiding it even here; it was too delicious to feel her soft cheek against his, for him to wish to see either deep blushes or loving eyes. He clasped her close. But they both keep silence. At lenght she murmured in a broken voice:
    "Oh Mr. Thornton, Im not good enough!"

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    Gonza said on Jan 23, 2010 | Add your feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    I absolutely loved this book. I had a hard time putting it down. Part of the reason I loved it so much is that it is a topic I am very close to. Even though this novel takes place over 150 years ago, it still rings true today. My parents were both part of unions and I was as well for a short time. S ... (continue)

    I absolutely loved this book. I had a hard time putting it down. Part of the reason I loved it so much is that it is a topic I am very close to. Even though this novel takes place over 150 years ago, it still rings true today. My parents were both part of unions and I was as well for a short time. So I know how the workers (or "hands") felt. Milton also felt a lot like home to me. Milwaukee is very much like Milton (or was). So I really felt like I knew the characters of Higgins and the other workers. I too feel the same way that Thornton feels about the North (or Milton). I too am from a similar type of city and I don't know how people can survive in the country. This book has a warm place in my heart and I wish I would have known about it a long time ago. I highly recommend this book.

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    cjspock said on Jul 27, 2007 | Add your feedback

  • Meraviglioso... l'ho letto tutto d'un fiato!!! Personaggi tratteggiati splendidamente, descrizioni accurate e tanto tanto sentimento...

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    LadyGi said on Jan 2, 2012 | Add your feedback

  • When Charles Dickens met Jane Austen in Milton

    When I bought this book, I was already acquainted with other Gaskell's novels (as "Wives and daughters" or "Ruth"); I liked them very much, but they can't be compared with this wonderful and formidable picture of human feelings in the new industrialized growing society.
    In this novel we can find a ... (continue)

    When I bought this book, I was already acquainted with other Gaskell's novels (as "Wives and daughters" or "Ruth"); I liked them very much, but they can't be compared with this wonderful and formidable picture of human feelings in the new industrialized growing society.
    In this novel we can find a clear description of difficulties caused by the industrialization that led to a more evident differentiation between poor and rich, often identified respectively with workers and masters.
    Elizabeth Gaskell described characters belonging to every social class without prejudice, dispensing bad or good indifferently on both sides, simply describing the events that contribute to create the basis of social rights with a surprising foresight, never forgetting every possible human passion (including love, friendship, loyalty and Faith).
    This real hard world is thus represented by the two unforgettable main characters: two young people, a man and a woman, that come through harshness and prejudices of their own world with a firmness of character and a passionate conduct so rarely seen in the literature of the time.

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    Vdeangelis said on Mar 7, 2010 | Add your feedback

  • This book was excellent. It starts like you're typical Jane Austen book, about a young middle class girl staying with her posh relatives and picking up their judgemental habits and then having to actually face real life and tragedy among her family and friends.

    It was fantastic to see the you ... (continue)

    This book was excellent. It starts like you're typical Jane Austen book, about a young middle class girl staying with her posh relatives and picking up their judgemental habits and then having to actually face real life and tragedy among her family and friends.

    It was fantastic to see the young women characters tackle the important and tough issues of the day, such as industialisation and workers' strikes and care about the politics and economics of the world around her instead of simply whether or not she'd marry the handsome rich man. Margaret was great in many ways, she was forced into competence by coming from a rather incompetent (but sweet and tragic) family and while she didn't do a terrible amount was a person who wanted to have carefully considered opinions and took action when she thought it was needed.

    In many ways the book was the most religion of Gaskell's that I've read so far. The sweet dying factory girl was almost comical in her woe and longing to see heaven. And Margaret herself seemed to talk about God a bit too much for my liking, but it was God within reasonable bounds, and at the end fun was made of teetotalling hard nosed vicars.

    This book took me a very long time to read, just over 3 weeks, but it was enjoyable to spend so much time with these characters, to see their good and bad sides. It felt like one of the most realistic Victorian novels I'd read, despite the over the top melodramatics of parts of it. It was well worth the time spent. I am really enjoying the works of Mrs. Gaskell and shall keep reading them.

    My copy was a lovely pocket edition from 1895, with marbled boards, which cost me all of two pounds in Charing Cross road.

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    Robot-mel said on Dec 30, 2008 | Add your feedback

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