North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell ​(review)

North and South is a compassionate book about family, society and class and of course a bit of love as well. Here comes my review of this lovely classic.

North and South
Elizabeth Gaskell
521 pages
My rating ★★★★

I read North and South for the first time in October. I discovered it at Journey Into Books in a TTT post and got it recommended by Michaela (thank you so much fo that!). I have now read it a second time in my Victorian literature class and I think it is about time I write a review.

I was told that it would have similarities with Pride and Prejudice and that if I liked Pride and Prejudice (which I did) I would probably enjoy North and South as well. And I did! North and South was a pleasure to read especially the second time around I felt I could fully enjoy it.

In North and South, you follow the young woman Margaret and the struggles and challenges that she and her family faces when they move from the countryside to the factory city of Milton. There Margaret gets acquainted with both the factory workers of Milton and the mill owner Mr Thornton and clash and conflicts are unavoidable.

This being a classic I was a bit worried about how I would get through it. Some classics tend to be a bit slow and hard to get through. I didn’t experience that while reading North and South. There was a rapid change of scene and a lot of events happening. It is a long book though, but I never felt bored.

Margaret Hale the heroine of the book is an admirable woman of strong character and will. She rises to the occasion when her family or other people close to her is in need. Margaret is a compassionate character and I think that is my favourite quality about her; her compassion and empathy. She cares about the people around her no matter what rank and station. She is able to make new friends in a new town even though it has completely different norms and standards. Margaret faces the challenges that are thrown at her with her head held high. Which leads to another strong characteristic of her – pride. Margaret is proud. This is both a quality but is also an inhibition at times. Margaret goes through great character development. She constantly challenges the norms and pushes the boundaries imposed on women at this time. This is probably my favourite thing about her!

I am a sucker for romance so my favourite “storyline” in North and South is the one evolving around and between Margaret and Mr Thornton. One of my favourite scenes in this book is actually their first meeting. I think their characters and especially Margaret’s character is really clarified and establish in this moment. Of course, both characters have great development from there on, but I really love how Margaret takes control of the situation and Mr Thornton is just sitting almost speechless :)))

This book is categorised as a romance book on Goodreads. But don’t get fooled. This book is tough. I was quite surprised by how “brutal” it actually is. It deals with serious topics such as working conditions for factories workers, poverty, hunger and death (a lot of death actually). It is not all romance and roses.
Compared to Pride and Prejudice this book wants to do more. It wants to indict the exciting reality both in order of social conditions and women’s rights. I favour this approach to the state of society.

I will definitely recommend this book if you enjoyed Pride and Prejudice or if you are into classics. And there is a miniseries as well. I always love to read a book and then watch the movie or series afterwards, it is the best thing. Anyways four big stars from me!

Best,

Have you read North and South? What did you think of it? Can you recommend any other calssics I should try?