North and South

Description

An apparently impossible love story between two people with totally different backgrounds, the book written by the Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell also presents the contrasts between the representatives of the old English society, anchored in traditions, and a new world, formed mostly of people who gained a superior social status through efforts and hard work.

The novel opens with the heroin, the 19 years old Margaret Hale, returning to the southern village where she was born, Helstone, after spending 10 years in London, at her wealthy relatives Aunt Shaw and cousin Edith. During this time, she completes the typical education of a young lady from the upper classes.

Margaret is very happy to return to the place of her childhood and to be reunited with her parents, Mr. Hale, a pastor, and his loving wife. However, this happiness is short lived, as some differences of opinions make her father resign his position, moving with his family in Blackshire, an industrial region.

Here, he earns money by tutoring some of the richest people in the area, John Thornton, the owner of the greatest cotton mill there, being one of them. A self-made man, risen from poverty, Thornton is attracted by Margaret, who does not show the same interest in him, disapproving his coarse manners and the harsh way in which he treats the people who work in his factory.

After she declines his marriage proposal, the heroin is seen by the protagonist in the company of her brother Frederick, a fugitive naval officer involved in a mutiny, whom Thornton believes to be her lover.

In time, Margaret discovers the true nature of Thornton’s personality and begins to have feelings for him, but does she have the opportunity to clear the misunderstanding and make the man of her dreams understand that she was accompanied by her brother?

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