North and South

Elizabeth Gaskell was a well-known British writer, whose works became as popular as those by the Brontë sisters, William Thackeray, and Charles Dickens. Her texts about complex fates, moral dilemmas, and endless love were highly appreciated by Charles Dickens.

The novel’s main character, Margaret Hale, is from the south of England and is forced to move to a northern industrial town at the center of the industrial revolution. Margaret feels antipathy toward her new environment, especially toward the cotton-mill owner, John Thornton, whom she considers the embodiment of evil. However, John Thornton feels a strong attraction to Margaret, and over time she begins to understand him—and even to feel sympathy for him. Throughout the novel, the characters overcome prejudice and learn to see the world in a broader light, without dividing it into black and white, and they learn to be kind and humane.