North and South

Elizabeth Gaskell

Apr 2009 · Penguin UK

About this eBook

Margaret's safe existence is turned upside down when she has to move to the grim northern town of Milton. Not only does she have her eyes opened by the poverty and hardship she encounters there, but she is thrown into confusion by stern factory owner John Thornton - whose treatment of his workers brings them into fierce opposition.

As men and women, workers and masters come into violent conflict, it seems opposites can never meet. But do John and Margaret's power struggles hide deeper feelings? And, when it seems Margaret has lost everything, can she find the one thing she never expected?

About the author

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 Rev. William Gaskell and had four daughters, and one son who died in infancy. Her first novel, Mary Barton, was published in 1848 and won the attention of Charles Dickens and most of her later work was publish in his journals. She was also a lifelong friend of Charlotte Bronte, whose biography she wrote, as well as her many novels and short stories.