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Indulge Yourself with the best classic literature on Your PDA. Navigate easily to any novel from Table of Contents or search for the words or phrases. Author's biography and reviews in the trial version.

Customer Reviews (2)

Elizabeth Gaskell
Works of Elizabeth Gaskell. North and South, Wives and Daughters, Ruth, The Moorland Cottage, The Life of Charlotte Bronte & more. FREE Author's biography ... version. Published by MobileReference (mobi)

I have just discovered this wonderful author. I ordered this collection and I am hooked. I will read everything she has written. As someone who always wished that Jane Austen had written just one more book, Elizabeth Gaskell is a real find. Her works are more "worldly" than the mild Miss Austen, but her characters are just as compelling and I love her.

What a find!
Works of Elizabeth Gaskell. North and South, Wives and Daughters, Ruth, The Moorland Cottage, The Life of Charlotte Bronte & more. FREE Author's biography ... version. Published by MobileReference (mobi)

This is a wonderful ebook! I would recommend it to anyone interested in the social novels of the Victorian period. A beautifully written, engaging and satisfying prose.

... Read more

Product Description
Volume: 7General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1902Original Publisher: HarperSubjects: Biography ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A biography written by one of Charlotte Bronte's closest friends
Most people associate the name Elizabeth Gaskell with the novel North and South. The fact that Mrs Gaskell was an excellent novelist is indisputable, however, this work proves she was also talented biographer. Vanity Fair's Thackerary wrote of Gaskell's biography "In the whole of English literature there is no book that can compare in wide-spread interest with "Life of Charlotte Bronte" by Mrs Gaskell." The book is certainly worthy of the praise, however, it is not without flaws.

Gaskell's biography was the first biography to be written on Bronte with the consent of her father, Patrick Bronte. Although Mr Bronte consented to the biography due to the fact that Mrs Gaskell was a close friend of his daughter. Mr Bronte and Charlotte's husband decided it would be better for the public to read about Charlotte from someone who held Charlotte in such high esteem. However, the book was not without controversy.

Gaskell somewhat embellished Mr Bronte's stern character and his treatment of his daughters and wife. Letters unpublished in this book prove Charlotte and her sisters loved their father dearly. Mr Bronte was quite astonished to read his cold demeanor towards his children.

The strongest controversy came from other people, such as Lady Scott who threatened legal action due to Gaskell's mention of her affair with Charlotte's brother, Branwell.(The affair proved to be a total fabrication by the Bronte sisters.) William Carus, who founded the Clergy Daughters School at Cowan Bridge also expressed displeasure with the details of the school.

Regardless of the controversy, the biography gives an excellent portrait of Charlotte the woman. If you are looking for information on the Heger affair in Brussels, look elsewhere. Mr Heger's name is nonexistant in this book. Very little information is provided about Charlotte's courtship with Arthur Bell Nicholls. The majority of the biography consists of letters either written by Charlotte or to Charlotte. What better way to learn about an author than from her own words?

This biography not only describes Charlotte and her relationship with family and friends, but it also provides a wonderful portrayal of Haworth and the society that existed there before and after the Brontes arrived. Gaskell also describes Patrick Bronte's introduction to Charlotte's mother and many other descriptions of all Brontes from childhood to adulthood.

While many may call Charlotte Bronte a brilliant novelist, her life was anything but brilliant. Charlotte grew up without a mother and also lost two older siblings at a young age. Charlotte had to assume the role of woman of the house at an early age. The beloved author of Jane Eyre lived a life of isolation a very little joy. As the years went by, she watched each of her siblings die one by one. Mrs Gaskell provided many letters which make Charlotte's grief come to life to today's readers.

This biography is mostly a portrait of Charlotte the woman. There are few references to Charlotte the novelist. The introduction goes as far as to say that Mrs Gaskell did not particularly care for Charlotte's novels. The writing of this biography was not an easy task for Elizabeth Gaskell, who loved Charlotte so dearly. However, after her death, numerous articles appeared which urged the Brontes to write something to counter those who were attempting to tarnish the name of one who was so gentle and caring.

What was left unsaid...
While the definitive overall Brontes biography is Juliet Barker's 'The Brontes', and the various Bronte-related works of Edward Chitham are invaluable in their own right, this still stands as an important contribution to understanding the Brontes, and Charlotte above all.

Despite its flaws, and I agree with other reviewers, that this is a rather dark picture of events, Elizabeth wrote a detailed and very sympathetic account of Charlotte's life and her relationship to her family. Her inclusion of letter content, epecially in relation to Ellen Nussey, was somewhat self-edited, and the lack of references to the romantic friendship that so clearly existed between the two women, was probably Elizabeth's attempt to protect them.

For anyone who is interested in the truth of their passionate relationship, I highly recommend Elaine Miller's detailed essay 'Through All Changes and Through All Chances' from the book Not A Passing Phase, compiled by the Lesbian History Group. The letter excerpts that Elaine includes clearly indicate that Charlotte and Ellen not only loved each other, but that they jointly expressed a long-term desire to live together 'until Death'.

When Ellen Nussey wanted to publish her own 'The Story of the Brontes' which would have included many excerpts from the hundreds of letters that Charlotte had sent her, Arthur Nicholls blocked permission, as he owned copyright to the contents of the letters, even though Ellen owned the letters themselves. Nicholls - Charlotte's husband of only nine months - also destroyed all of the literally hundreds of letters from Ellen to Charlotte, and even tried to insist that Ellen destroy all of Charlotte's letters to her, during Charlotte's lifetime.

Elizabeth is clearly no fan of Nicholls, but that is hardly surprising in view of his destruction of so much of Charlotte's personal writing material.

For an insight into the lives of Charlotte and her family and the Haworth area in that time period, this is still and always will be an important book.

The Life of Charlotte Bronte? What life?
Have tried to read Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Bronte several times but found it so depressing that I couldn't get through the first chapters.I thought it would be easier on tape which, to some extent it is. However, the content is no less depressing and tragic. The family live at Howarth Parsonage, an isolated place in the north of England. There are six children, two of whom die from tuberculosis and consumption in their school years; the mother dies young;the brother dies of alcoholism and Emily and Ann both die in their 20s. The tragedy is that of extraordinary talent snuffed out so early in life.
The majority of the book is taken up with the the lonely life of Charlotte and her selfish father, which, try as she might, Elizabeth Gaskell cannot make interesting. Charlotte's trips outside the confines of Howarth are few and far between but one very rarely hears her complain. She finally has a few years of married life before she too dies young. I have alway loved reading the Bronte sisters novels - this autobiography shows to what extent these girls live in their imagination and how rich those imaginations are. Being so isolated from society, reveals why their novels are so dark and and sinister - herein lies a book,but Elizabeth Gaskell is no psychoanalyst. A great friend and admirer of Charlotte Bronte, she prefers to emphasize her virtues and forebearance in the face of adversity and gives us little more than a hagiography of her friend. There is very little analysis, if any, of Charlotte's works; thankfully, later scholarship delves more deeply into the intricate minds of Charlotte, and her two sisters.
Being from the North of England myself, I would have perhaps felt more "connected" if the narrator had been English. Elizabeth Gaskell was from Manchester, England, and to hear Flo Gibson (as good a narrator as she might be otherwise) trying to get across the English northern accent was quite painful.
I would not recommend this work, especially if one is looking for any kind of critical analysis of Jane Eyre, Shirley or Villette.

At the intersection of time and eternity
Mrs. Gaskell understood a man's or woman's life to be lived within a social and natural context -- and her deployment of anecdotes and impressions of the North of England in the early pages of this book is captivating.But she also understood us to be souls, present to but distinct from God.Hence, even though in a few instances Gaskell's facts may been correctible (which the editor has done for us in this Penguin Classics edition), she is concerned with truth, and this gives readers the opportunity (rarely offered by modern entertainments) to escape from the trivial.

A Beautiful Biography!
A very nicely written biography by Mrs. Gaskell about the life of her friend Charlotte Bronte, although most of the content was made up of letters written either by or to Charlotte Bronte rather than Mrs. Gaskell's own writings. Still this is a very concise book containing mostly everything that an ordinary reader, or well, a beginner of the Bronte novels, should know about this famous family. Nonetheless at some point of the book, I do find Mrs. Gaskell a bit too subjective, especially when it comes to the depiction of Charlotte's brother Branwell Bronte and his downfall. But consider the fact that this book was written only within one and a half year, with Mrs. Gaskell herself alone traveling all the way from Manchester to Haworth, and then to Brussel, doing all the necessary researches and interviews on her own, I must say that this is just an awesome piece of work!! And just as what Patrick Bronte himself had said about this biography, 'It is every way worthy of what one Great Woman, should have written of Another...it ought to stand, and will stand in the first rank, of Biographies, till the end of time'.

One more word though. From a more scholarly point of view, however, I think so far the 'best' biography on the Brontes should be Juliet Barker's 'The Brontes'. If, after reading this biography written by Mrs. Gaskell, you still want to know more about the Brontes, then I will say: go and buy this other book by Juliet Barker and you definitely will never regret it! ... Read more

Product Description
In the last few decades Elizabeth Gaskell has become a figure of growing importance in the field of Victorian literary studies. She produced work of great variety and scope in the course of a highly successful writing career that lasted for about twenty years from the mid-1840s to her unexpected death in 1865. The essays in this Companion draw on recent advances in biographical and bibliographical studies of Gaskell and cover the range of her impressive and varied output as a writer of novels, biography, short stories, and letters. The volume, which features well-known scholars in the field of Gaskell studies, focuses throughout on her narrative versatility and her literary responses to the social, cultural, and intellectual transformations of her time. This Companion will be invaluable for students and scholars of Victorian literature, and includes a chronology and guide to further reading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Resouce!
This collection of criticism on Elizabeth Gaskell is a great resource for anyone interested in the Victorian novelist. I purchased the Cambridge Companion to consult while working on my master's thesis on Gaskell, and although I only cited a few of these essays in my final thesis, the book proved very informative. It's a great place to start when researching any aspect of Gaskell or her work, especially as the critics included in this anthology are all Gaskell experts.

Hopefully this book will end up in most college and university libraries to encourage the continued study of Gaskell! ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / Political; Fiction / Family Life; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Mary Barton (Penguin Classics)
I love the author, Elizabeth Gaskell, and have read a couple of her books.Although I haven't read this book yet I look forward to it.I've found a new "favorite" author.

Poignant and Memorable
I am a huge Elizabeth Gaskell Fan, but hadn't read Mary Barton yet. I think I was scared off by the summary of the book which made it sound a bit depressing. But this is such a wonderful book! Gaskell writes with such apt descriptions as to make you really feel like you become part of that Manchester world. The chapter detailing the mill fire and rescue had me sitting on the edge of my seat. She manages to convey suspense in a way that's not overdone or cute-sy.

I loved this Oxford edition that had an appendix. It really increased my understanding of the original meaning of words not common to us now. You get the sense that Gaskell picked every word with so much care, and with the intention of providing the deepest understanding. Knowing her personal history with regard to why she wrote this book (the death of her child) made the book more meaningful to me, too, because there is a lot of strife and suffering in this book amid the hope that Mary has.

The characters are rich and unforgettable. Anyone that is a Gaskell or Austin fan should give Mary Barton a try. I'm so glad I did.

Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel
If you are like me, you probably picked up Mary Barton after reading the literary classic, North and South. Mary Barton and North and South have many similarities. Both novels deal with theoppression of the working class and the effect of machinery on those who once earned their bread by performing the same task by hand.

Mary Barton is no Margaret Hale. Instead, Mary is the daughter of a union striker, who places her sights on a wealthy mill owners son named Henry Carson. Mary has lived a life so full of privations that her one goal in life is never to suffer the poverty her mother had to endure.

Like North and South, this novel is full of illness and death due to extreme poverty. It is written in the introduction that Gaskell wrote this novel shortly after losing a child. Her terrible lose echoes through the characters who lose child after child throughout the novel.

Mary Barton was an ambitious first novel. The romantic triangle between Mary, Henry, and Jem Wilson was a little abrupt, but once her choice is made, her sentiments towards her beloved reminded me of John Thornton's love for Margaret Hale. If you loved North and South, this is an excellent novel to indulge in!

great value
The Norton Critical Edition contains not only the original footnotes, but also much critical commentary from early reviewers. Excellent for understanding the Industrial Revolution and the time period.

The redeeming power of death
A tale of Manchester working life set in the 1830s, Mary Barton begins as bucolically as any gritty urban novel can. The Bartons, who are expecting an addition to the family, meet the Wilsons, who are carrying their infant twins, at Green Heys Fields. The charm of these low, flat, treeless tracts lies in their rural contrast to "the busy, bustling manufacturing town [he] left but half an hour ago." The couples adjourn to the Barton home for tea, where Gaskell lovingly describes every modest luxury such working folk can manage--the bright green japanned tea tray with its scarlet lovers, the cupboard of crockery and glass of which Mrs. Barton is so proud, and the hodgepodge of furniture ("sure sign of good times among the mills"). In honor of their guests, the Bartons send young Mary out for fresh eggs ("one a-piece, that will be five pence"), milk, bread, and Cumberland ham.

Thus Mary Barton commences with a self-conscious air of cautious prosperity, but underneath the pleasure of the occasion are hints of despair to come--Mrs. Barton's distress over the disappearance of her sister, and the Wilsons' "little, feeble twins, inheriting the frail appearance of their mother." In chapters I and II, Gaskell sets up the end of abundance and joy for the Bartons and the beginning of misery for their entire class in the mill city of Manchester.

Mary Barton is a novel of contrasts. While the Bartons take homely pride in their furniture and wares, the Carsons live in a "good house . . . furnished with disregard to expense . . . [with] much taste shown, and many articles chosen for their beauty and elegance." As Carson's former employee, Ben Davenport, lies dying in a filthy basement in the company of his wife and children, who are "too young to work, but not too young to be cold and hungry," Carson's youngest daughter Amy tells her brother and father that she "can't live without flowers and scents" and that "life was not worth having without flowers." They can't live without food and shelter, and she thinks she can't live without luxuries. Perhaps the most terrible contrast is between the "listless, sleepy" Carson sisters and the tragedy that interrupts their idle chatter.

The contrast and conflict between the rich and the poor, the men and the masters, is not conventionally based on envy or even class; Carson was once no better and no richer than anyone else. The men don't aspire to wealth, at least for now. They want to feed their families and perhaps to enjoy the simple comforts the Bartons once shared with the Wilsons. What keeps masters and men apart is not class or money, but a more fundamental unwillingness to acknowledge the other's humanity. Mr. Carson can't be bothered to recall who Ben Davenport is, other than one of the many faceless men who worked for him for many years, or to give Wilson more than a useless outpatient order. Instead of approaching the masters, the men, who are powerless as individuals, join groups and send delegates like John Barton to London and Glasgow to try to gain government support for their cause. On their own, they fail.

Neither side is willing to break the communication barrier. Ignoring one of their number who wisely notes, "I don't see how our interests can be separated," the masters choose to hide the conundrum they face from the men, who are described as "cruel brutes . . . more like wild beasts than human beings." Even as the omniscient narrator shows the just causes for both groups' anger toward one another and tries to avoid demonstrating a preference, she can't resist retorting parenthetically, "Well, who might have made them [the men] different?" It takes a murder and a near miscarriage of justice merely to open the door to redemption for the man in each side's leading role.

Mary becomes the fulcrum of the characters and plot, connecting the Bartons to the Carsons, the unforgiving John to the repentant Esther, the worldly men and the more spiritually minded women. Through positive and negative models like Alice, Job, Margaret, Esther, Mrs. Wilson, and Sally, and through her true and patient if frustrated lover, Mary avoids Esther's fate and is transformed from a heedless young girl into a courageous woman who is able to withstand the pull of her divided loyalties.

Confronted with the undeniable humanity of John Barton and the relentlessness of his unfamiliar poverty, Mr. Carson finally recognizes the need for change. As guardian of the old institutions, however, he struggles with his ambivalence toward taking action. Meanwhile, Mary Barton simply leaves the dead and the past behind to embrace an entirely different kind of future in a new country.

Mary Barton lacks some of the psychological depth and nuances that make Gaskell's Wives and Daughters more interesting and engaging; here, the characters behave consistently and predictably. Despite the ease of its characterizations and assumptions, though, Mary Barton is a surprisingly stark, unvarnished look at the poorer, seamier side of urban industrial life. Gaskell accomplishes what the masters and men have failed to do--she recognizes the humanity in each of them and hints at its potential if only it is discovered and embraced.

Copyright © 2009 by Diane L. Schirf.
16 September 2009. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Volume: 1; Original Publisher: London : Chapman and Hall; Publication date: 1855; Subjects: English fiction; Fiction / Classics; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

North and South
The print in this book was very pleasing to my eyes. This made it a plus. The love story was great. It is so beautiful. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

90% of this story was good....

This story had potential. The writing made me like a few characters, loath a couple others and even cry a tear or two.... All was rolling along, I'm enjoying the storyline very much - until the last few chapters. The author took an odd turn in the storyline and then abruptly ended it. The turn of events is so strange I'm tempted to look as see if the upload of the public domain title has been tampered with. Is it a strange joke?

I also have no idea why the story is called The Moorland Cottage.

Go ahead and skip this one. Instead I recommend The Enchanted April or Understood Betsy.

this upload also had a handful of strange typos. I won't score it low for that reason but it could be easily fixed.

Not for everyone, but ...
The Moorland Cottage is a predictable 19th century British romance (actually written in the 19th century) that follows the literary formula of its day. With that said, sometimes don't you just want to let yourself fall into a romantic novel and pretend it's your life? I don't know anything about the author, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, so I don't know how successful she was, but she succeeded with this little novel. I fell in love, had my hopes dashed, and was rescued from a fate worse than death all in the space of a few hours. Gaskell is no Jane Austin, but Ms. Austen didn't write enough books to satisfy my thirst for a good romantic fairy tale written during a time when those books were the bestselling fiction of their day. If you're in the right frame of mind, pick it up and enjoy. ... Read more

Product Description
"Cranford" is the best known and most charming of Elizabeth Gaskell's novels. It is a comic portrait of an early Victorian country village and its genteel inhabitants, mostly women, whose social attitudes remain firmly unchanging against the modernising world, and whose domestic details dominate conversation. Gaskell describes the uneventful lives of Cranford's inhabitants in this witty and poignant classic which deserves to be read and re-read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

THE QUIET PSYCHE OF VICTORIAN ANGLIA
I bought this for my wife - but, after we both greatly enjoyed the BBC miniseries, I ended up reading it myself as well. Compared to the miniseries, as expected, the book expands into more details and can be savored in many more levels.

Sometimes escapism may require an action page-turner. Other times the same effect can be achieved by a slow novel about middle-aged women and their daily troubles.

Pettiness and kindness, age and genders, nobles and lowborn, progress and tradition, all come together and weave the tapestry of rural middle England of the 1840's.

RECOMMENDED! ... Read more

Product Description
Gaskell's delight in the macabre is nowhere more evident than in her short fiction, and this volume testifies to the extraordinary range of her art as a short story writer. The Grey Woman is a Gothic tale of terror and suspense, while the plot of A Dark Night's Work turns on concealed crime and a false accusation of murder.Also included in this collection are Libbie Marsh's Three Eras; Six Weeks at Heppenheim; and Cumberland Sheep-Shearers. ... Read more

Product Description
The works of Elizabeth Gaskell in one large Kindle collection with an active table of contents.

Works include:
An Accursed Race
Cousin Phillis
Cranford
Curious, if True
A Dark Night's Work
Doom of the Griffiths
French Life
The Grey Woman and other Tales
Half a Life-time Ago
The Half-Brothers
Life of Charlotte Bronte
Lizzie Leigh
Lois the Witch
Mary Barton
The Moorland Cottage
My Lady Ludlow
North and South
The Poor Clare
Round the Sofa
Ruth
Sylvia's Lovers
Uncle Peter
Wives and Daughters ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Historical; Fiction / Literary; Fiction / Romance / General; Fiction / Romance / Historical; Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; ... Read more

Product Description
North and South was initially published in the magazine Household Worlds, edited by Charles Dickens. This social novel is about the constrast between the industrial north of England and the wealthier south, taking place in the mid-19th century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Buy this book, but not this edition!
I totally agree with the previous reviewer! I love Elizabeth Gaskell, and purchased this edition, frankly, because it 'looked pretty,' which her books should look. However, this edition is a large size, which makes it ponderous to read, and the typo errors are quite distracting. I also would have preferred a different font. These are not major things, but to readers of classic books, the book itself should be worthy of it's content, and this one is not. A good book, but a poor edition of it. I also rate the book high, and this edition of it quite low, so am giving it a 3 rating (the book a 4, or higher, and the edition a 2.)

Poor edition of a good book
Gaskell's North and South is an engaging romance with a social conscience; unfortunately, this edition is ridden with typographical errors, missing words, and nonsensical grammar.Although some of these problems may be attributable to the Victorian-era writing style, it is clear that many--if not the majority--are due to careless editing by a publishing house that put little effort into turning out a clean copy of a non-copyrighted work.

The story itself follows the romance of Margaret Hale--who grew up in southern England--and John Thornton--a self-made man from the industrial north.Not surprisingly, their different backgrounds lead to conflict, but it is, of course, the conflict of opposites that attract.One of the pleasures of Gaskell's writing is that she shares the hero's thoughts with the reader.That makes Thornton more likeable much earlier in the book.Because this is a Victorian work, there is a fair amount of outright moralizing and pious content.This aspect of the writing isn't to my taste, but it doesn't overwhelm the rest of the story.

Overall, this is a really enjoyable book, but do yourself a favor and read it in a different edition.I'd give the novel 4 stars and the edition 2. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Historical; Fiction / Literary; Fiction / Romance / General; Fiction / Romance / Historical; Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; ... Read more

Product Description
If you take the turn to the left, after you pass the lyke-gate at Combehurst Church, you will come to the wooden bridge over the brook; keep along the field-path which mounts higher and higher, and, in half a mile or so, you will be in a breezy upland field, almost large enough to be called a down, where sheep pasture on the short, fine, elastic turf. ... Read more

Product Description
Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell was known for her detailed portraits of influential English figures (such as Charlotte Bronte), and novels of Victorian life. Collected here are over 20 of her works. A table of contents is included to help you quickly find each work.

An Accursed Race
Cousin Phillis
Cranford
Curious, if True
A Dark Night's Work
Doom of the Griffiths
French Life
The Grey Woman and other Tales
Half a Life-time Ago
The Half-Brothers
Life of Charlotte Bronte
Lizzie Leigh
Lois the Witch
Mary Barton
The Moorland Cottage
My Lady Ludlow
North and South
The Poor Clare
Round the Sofa
Ruth
Sylvia's Lovers
Uncle Peter
Wives and Daughters ... Read more

Product Description
An Accursed Race is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Victorian Sociology
While I heart Gaskell as a Victorian era underdog in a universe of starlets, An Accused Race might be a little too much on the modern reader's patience, as Gaskell is simply engaging in what was then a reformist treatise of her day, decrying the (mostly baffling) oppression of the Cagots in Europe, and while it is nice to be educated about historic social stigma, this is not a narrative that offers much to a lay reader. Gaskell's own bafflement about why the Cagots were so stigmatized doesn't necessarily make for relevant engagement. While it might be useful for the scholar, unless you have sampled all the free downloads and don't care what you're sifting through on screen, this is a skip. ... Read more

Product Description
A new TV tie-in version to accompany the BBC TV series coming in Autumn 2004. Set against the backdrop of Victorian England's industrial north, Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage star in a four-part adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's passionate love story, North and South. The serial follows the fortunes of Margaret Hale (Daniela Denby-Ashe), a privileged, middle-class southerner who is forced to settle in the northern town of Milton.Her distaste for the town and its people extends to handsome and charismatic cotton mill owner John Thornton, played by Richard Armitage, whom she believes epitomises everything she dislikes about the North.However, as events conspire to throw Margaret and Thornton together, the two spirited characters have to overcome their repressed physical attraction for one another and conquer the prejudices of class and circumstance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

LOVE it!
I love this book! North and South is my favorite movie, and reading the book gives more detail and character depth.
Great read!
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WRONG CATEGORY: this looks like the DVD, not "paperback"--this is mis-titled
North and South is an incredible book and fantastic film (BBC, as always, delivers beyond expectation).

I am just writing this because I saw the price as about $60 for a paperback and knew that couldn't be right.This must be the DVD, not a book. ... Read more

Product Description
First published in 1848, Mary Barton is author Gaskell's first novel. The story is set in the English city of Manchester during the 1830s and 1840s and deals heavily with the difficulties faced by the Victorian lower class. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Gaskell's first novel
The first half of this novel chronicles young and beautiful Mary Barton, the motherless daughter of a factory worker father, and her romantic vacillations between Harry Carson, the wealthy son of a mill owner who is infatuated with Mary but has no noble intentions, and Jem Wilson, a long-time friend who is poor but loves Mary passionately.

The second half of the novel becomes a murder mystery and courtroom drama. Some of the best and most memorable scenes are here: the heroine divulging her true feelings during cross-examination, a heart-pounding chase at sea, and the sad final moments of a major character.

Many of the themes of this novel are similar to Gaskell's later work, North and South. One cannot help comparing the two, and North and South is the more polished novel in terms of writing style and plot construction. In Mary Barton, Gaskell's use of first person narration is sometimes jarring, as I was engrossed in the story and not prepared to hear a statement written from the author's own point-of-view. This first-person narration sometimes divulged political statements, and it appears Gaskell's intent was to villainize the rich and side with the poor. This is true especially during the first part of the story. In the second part she was more careful to present a balanced view from the perspective of both rich and poor. Indeed, she could not help doing so as the real victim of the novel turns out to be-ironically-the richest man in it.

It was it was not until several chapters in that I remembered that this novel was Gaskell's first. I was then more willing to overlook the small problems with style and tone and focus on the story. Mary Barton is also significant for presenting a recurring theme of the "fallen woman" through the character of Esther, Mary's aunt. Gaskell would later return to this as the major theme of her third novel, Ruth. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / Classics; ... Read more

Product Description
NORTH AND SOUTH (1854) by Elizabeth Gaskell is both a social commentary and the romantic story of a young lady, Margaret Hale, who is relocated with her family from the affluent South of England to the industrial North.

Margaret comes in contact with the difficulties of the working class and her sympathies are engaged.She also encounters the fascinating John Thornton, a wealthy local mill owner and a man of true integrity.Romantic tension ensues, reminiscent of Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. However, unlike an Austen heroine, Margaret lives in a world of harsher realities, with few things whitewashed, and suffering going hand in hand with ultimate exultation.

A classic portrayal of nineteenth century industrialization, and of the complexities of the human heart. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

For lovers of the series "Cranford."
Since I loved the PBS series "Cranford," I wanted more. The series are supposed to be based on a couple of Gaskell's books, so I bought Cranford and this one. There was nothing of the TV series that came from "North and South." The book was pretty slow going at first, but since I loved Cranford, I stuck with it. I'm not sure that to enjoy the ending you really needed all of the little details. There is a family prominent to the story that added nothing and wasted a lot of pages, in my opinion. But I guess they are there to illustrate both sides of the economic life.It's not a book I would read again. But the ending made up for all the slogging through I had to do to get there. Now that I've read what I wrote, I'd have to say that it really wasn't worth all the time I spent reading it.

North and South- if you can stand it
I have never written a review before, but I can't restrain my contempt for Norilana.This book happens to be the beautiful, poignant love story I have ever had the pleasure to read.However, this particular text has been so badly printed that it absolutely overflows, if I can use that word in relation to a book, with typos!It is so obvious that the text was never proofread!Norilana should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for corrupting the text of this beautiful book to the extent that I was practically wincing every few minutes as I discovered another mistake.I dislike buying paperbacks, but I would rather have a paperback with the pure text than wade through another Norilana edition of anything again.

EXCELLENT BOOK!
I discovered Elizabeth Gaskell 3 years ago when I stumbled across the adaptation of this book on You Tube (also available here on Amazon), and quickly this became my all time favorite work of fiction.

If you are a fan of Period Dramas, like Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters, then you will enjoy this book.Instead of the quiet peaceful of the English countryside, this story is set in the heart of the industrial revolution.It initially follows the life of Margaret Hale who was born and raised in the bright southern towns of Helstone and London.Margaret is forced to leave her comfortable life and move North when her father decides to change professions.The family settles in the (fictional) industrial town of Milton, located in (fictional) Darkshire.There she encounters life as she has never experienced before.A cold dark climate, the bustle and demands of industry, and the clash of society between the factory workers and the Mill Masters.It is also here that she discovers the dark and smoldering John Thornton, Master of Marlborough Mills.Unlike Austen or Bronte, Mrs. Gaskell explores the heart and mind of her hero, Mr. Thornton.By the end of the book you will have experienced a beautiful transformation of both major characters as well as several of the minor characters.

At it's heart, it is a classic romance but as others more wise than I have stated, it's a love story with a eye on the issues of the time in which it is placed.

Highly recommended! (I can not recommend it highly enough)As well as the adaptation of the same name, staring Richard Armitage and Daniella Denby-Ashe.(which can also be found here on Amazon!)

A very basic edition
I prefer hardcover over paperback and I wasn't too impressed with this edition, the only one available in hardcover. It's full of typos, some of which obviously are due to the fact that some machine scanned the text from the first edition and no human eye ever went over the text once again. Thus, "being bold" becomes "being hold", "he lives there with his ilk" becomes "he lives there with his milk" etc. First I thought those were archaic forms of English or some obscure dialect but no, it was just the machine... There is absolutely no "bonus material", no annotations, explanations, preface or anything else. No comparison with the carefully done Barnes and Noble Classics editions. Then again, at least the book is physically solid, good binding, decent paper, not too thin, not transparent.

North & South
I first saw the DVD and than purchased the book. The DVD has become my favorite over Pride and Prejudice. The acting is superb and the story line, athough not quite accurate to the book, is very well told. The plot kept my interest throughout the 4 hours of viewing. I would recommend anyone who enjoys the English period pictures to watch this movie. ... Read more