Book Review: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

In this underrated classic, protagonist Margaret Hale moves from the south of England to an industrial town in the North, clashing with the mill operator, John Thornton, as they navigate the social and labor perils of the Victorian Era.

5/5 Stars

Was this book long? Yes. Was it worth it? Also, yes!

I am not sure how people usually stumble across this often overlooked classic, but I was introduced to its BBC miniseries counterpart by a friend recently. The yearning that Richard Armitage masterfully embodies while playing Thornton made for such an enjoyable watch. So, imagine my surprise when I read the book and all the yearning was on the page too! That adaptation moved up in my esteem and now sits alongside the movie Holes as some of the best adaptation work I've seen to date.

But enough about the visuals (although I could go on and on about that opening sequence)- let's get to the written word.

When her pastor father decides to separate from the Church, main character Margaret Hale moves from her life in the south of England, traveling between the country with her parents and the city with her cousin, to an industrial town in the North. In spite of her father's work as a private tutor to one of the richer residents, the bleak look and feel of the poverty baked into the fabric of the town itself leads to Margaret's distaste of the area. As she makes friends amongst the workers and interacts with the high society life of her father's student, Mill owner John Thornton, Margaret feels torn between Christian values, moral teachings, union struggles, and family responsibilities. She also cannot understand why she is so drawn to a man like John Thornton and navigates the ups and downs of romantic interest while constantly scrutinized by societal factors destined to drive them apart.

I genuinely cannot believe that this is not required reading in school. Gaskell not only delivers a masterclass of a Victorian novel, but also manages to fit so many subplots in that are so integral to the story and feel relevant even in the modern day and age. Margaret Hale is a parentified child, and this theme comes up constantly as she manages her father's lack of accountability and her mother's depressive mood swings. The Thorntons deals with new money attitudes in a day and age when hard work meant less than who your father was. The Higgins family deals with not only fair labor practices but also worker safety issues, infighting amidst union members, strike practices, and the social stigmas that plague interactions with other townspeople. All of this is wrapped in period typical gender discrimination storylines, drama within families that question is blood really thicker than water, and a general questioning of whether or not Christian values can really coincide with such wealth disparity as sanctioned by the dominant culture of the time. Talk about relevance!

And if you don't find enough in the themes, then let me get into the characters driving the main love story. Margaret “I’m not nice because I love you- it’s because I’m a decent person!” Hale and John “Stop being mean to me or I swear to god I’m gonna fall in love with you!” Thornton are the best at weird, old, English longing. At times it was will they/won't they, at times it was much more straight up enemies than enemies-to-lovers, and still it continued to surprise with an ending that, even while I was watching the miniseries, I could not believe would be the conclusion in a Victorian-era novel.

This book is worth a read for so many reasons, but whether you come for the inspiration to join your local union or the on-again-off-again romance of the two main characters, you will stay for the beautiful prose that Gaskell presents for your reading pleasure. And if you need even more reason to check out this 5/5 Star read, check out the history of the publishing process for it- Charles Dickens makes an appearance!