Elizabeth Gaskell 
North and South 

With an essay by V. S. Pritchett.
 »How am I to dress up in my finery, and go off and away to smart parties, after the sorrow I have seen today? »
Elizabeth Gaskell »s compassionate, richly dramatic novel features one of the most original and fully-rounded female characters in Victorian fiction, Margaret Hale. It shows how, forced to move from the country to an industrial northern town, she develops a passionate sense of social justice, and a turbulent relationship with mill-owner John Thornton. North and South depicts a young woman discovering herself, in a nuanced portrayal of what divides people, and what brings them together.
The Penguin English Library – 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.