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A Penguin cover of North and South

North and South is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in book form in 1855. It originally appeared as a twenty-two-part weekly serial from September 1854 through January 1855 in the magazine Household Words, edited by Charles Dickens. When the story was published as a book, it included a preface stating that because of restrictions of the magazine format, the author was unable to develop the story as she wished and as such "various short passages have been inserted, and several new chapters added." The title indicates a major theme of the book: the contrast between the way of life in the industrial north of England and the wealthier south, although it was only under pressure from her publishers that Gaskell changed the title from its original, Margaret Hale.

North and South presents, as the title suggests, a contrast between the old agricultural gentry of the south of England and the new industrialists of the north. As the wife of a Unitarian minister in Manchester, Elizabeth Gaskell herself worked among the poor and knew at first hand the misery of the industrial areas.

The book is a social novel that tries to show the industrial North and its conflicts in the mid-19th century as seen by an outsider, a socially sensitive lady from the South. The story: the heroine, Margaret Hale, is the daughter of a Nonconformist minister who moves to the fictional industrial town of Milton after leaving the Church of England. The town is modeled after Manchester, where Gaskell lived as the wife of a Unitarian minister.

The change of lifestyle shocks Margaret, who sympathizes deeply with the poverty of the workers and comes into conflict with John Thornton, the owner of a local mill, also a friend of her father. After an encounter with a group of strikers, in which Margaret attempts to protect Thornton from the violence, he proposes to her, telling her that he is in love with her; she rejects his proposal of marriage, mainly because she sees it as if it were out of obligation for what she had done. Later, he sees her with her fugitive brother, whom he mistakes for another suitor, and this creates further unresolved conflict. Margaret, once she believes she has lost his affection, begins to see him in another light, and eventually they are reunited.

• Miss Margaret Hale - The protagonist
• Mr. John Thornton - The owner of a local mill, a friend and student of Margaret's father.
• Nicholas Higgins - An industrial worker who Margaret befriends. He has two daughters, Bessy and Mary.
• Mrs. Thornton - Mr. Thornton's mother, who dislikes Margaret
• Bessy - Nicholas Higgins's daughter, who suffers from a fatal illness
• Mr. Richard Hale - Margaret's father, a dissenter who leaves his vicarage in Helstone to work as a private tutor in Milton
• Mrs. Maria Hale - Margaret's mother
• Dixon - A servant of the Hales, very loyal and devoted to Mrs. Hale
• Mr. Bell - An old friend of Mr. Hale, god-father to Margaret and her brother
• Mrs. Shaw - Margaret's aunt, Edith's mother, and Mrs. Hale's sister
• Edith - Margaret's cousin, married to Captain Lennox
• Mr. Henry Lennox - A young lawyer, brother of Captain Lennox. Margaret refuses his suits early in the story
• Frederick Hale - Margaret's older brother, a fugitive living in Spain since his involvement in a mutiny while serving in the British Navy

Two television serials based on Gaskell's novel were produced by the BBC. 1975's North and South featured Rosalind Shanks as Margaret Hale and Patrick Stewart as John Thornton. 2004's North & South featured Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage respectively in these roles.

Many have compared the North & South storyline to another great English novel, that being Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. There are similarities, (boy meets girl and likes her, girl forms an immediate dislike to boy, girl overcomes her prejudices and likes boy in the end), but they are indeed very different stories and characters.

• North and South, available at Project Gutenberg.
• North and South – complete book in HTML one page for each chapter.
• free downloads in pdf, pdb and lit formats
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• Read aloud by volunteers in MP3 format (free, public domain)