Elizabeth's Gaskell's book, North and South, reveals differences of wealth, class, and ways of life between the industrial north of England in comparison to the wealthier southern regions. Gaskell express her social commentary through the perspective of a wealthy young woman, Margaret Hale, the daughter of a minister who has recently left the Church of England. Both Margaret and her father move to a northern industrial town and are shocked, but sympathetic to the differences they find there. As both a love story and a political novel, Gaskell's work presents an interesting portrait of...

Mary Smith and her friends live in Cranford, a town predominantly inhabited by women. The return of a long-lost brother named Peter is the most dramatic event to occur over the course of the sixteen tales that comprise the novel. Elizabeth Gaskell's "Cranford" is an ironic portrayal of female life in a secluded English village.

Widower Mr. Gibson decides to remarry for the sake of his daughter, Molly-but his new wife proves to be insincere and selfish. Molly often stays with the Hamleys of Hamley Hall, spending time with their two sons, Osborne and Roger. "Wives and Daughters" - which follows Molly as she grows into a young woman and falls in love - is Elizabeth Gaskell's final novel, and her masterpiece.

One of Elizabeth Gaskells best known novels, sometimes called an industrial novel or social novel, about the industrialization of cities in northern England in 1800s.

In the delicately impoverished town of Cranford, everyone is keen to know everyone else's business. The community is almost devoid of men, and in their place a solid matriarchy has formed. Manners must be observed, house calls must not exceed a quarter of an hour, and neither money matters nor death may be discussed in public. But the peace is often disturbed. Rumoured burglars, literary disagreements, and the arrival of Captain Brown and his tactless daughters all cause ripples, warmly charted by the conversational narrator, Mary Smith. When the past erupts through the fragile class...

Elizabeth's Gaskell's book, North and South, reveals differences of wealth, class, and ways of life between the industrial north of England in comparison to the wealthier southern regions. Gaskell express her social commentary through the perspective of a wealthy young woman, Margaret Hale, the daughter of a minister who has recently left the Church of England. Both Margaret and her father move to a northern industrial town and are shocked, but sympathetic to the differences they find there. As both a love story and a political novel, Gaskell's work presents an interesting portrait of...

North and South is set in the fictional industrial town of Milton in the North of England. Forced to leave her home in the tranquil rural south, Margaret Hale settles with her parents in Milton where she witnesses the brutal world wrought by the industrial revolution and employers and workers clashing in the first organised strikes. Sympathetic to the poor whose courage and tenacity she admires and among whom she makes friends, she clashes with John Thornton, a cotton mill manufacturer who belongs to the nouveaux riches and whose contemptuous attitude to workers Margaret despises. The novel...