Elizabeth Gaskell

Two families from rural 19th century England are tested and tried in Elizabeth Gaskell's classic Wives and Daughters. Vividly portraying the world of the early 1800s, this story is full of observation and character studies with a deft undertone of comedy. 596 pages, softcover.

Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South is a wonderful blend of social comment on the dramatic changes in society brought about by the industrial revolution and a compelling love story. This Macmillan Collector's Library edition is a handsome pocket-sized edition that features gilded edges, a cloth-bound imprinted hardcover binding with dust jacket, and a ribbon marker. Afterword by Kathryn White. Measures 4" x 6"; 651 pages.

This is the story of Margaret Hale and explores the exploitation of the working class, linking the plight of workers with that of women and probing the myth and reality of the 'north-south divide'.

In Ruth, the author set out to portray, not 'the Condition of England' already famously addressed in Mary Barton, but the nature and sensibility of a fallen woman. In considering a 'fallen woman', Gaskell explores the worlds of nineteenth-century experience concerned with women and family, sexuality, love and religion.

Mary Barton, the daughter of a disillusioned trade unionist, rejects her working-class lover in hopes of marrying Henry Carson, the mill-owner's son, and making a better life for herself and her father. But when Henry is shot by a man suspected to be her lover, she must deal with her choices. A powerful dramatization of the class divisions in England. 417 pages, softcover.