Have you read North and South?

Have you read North and South? I really enjoyed the first episode of the miniseries, but I am bad at watching TV, so decided to read the book instead. I really wish this book was more popular, to be honest. A lot of times when an author writes a book as social commentary, they end up vilifying and subsequently dehumanizing whatever group of people they see as “bad” in their own worldview. While Gaskell definitely understood the plight of the Victorian working class and shows that vividly here, she doesn’t fall into the trap of dehumanizing the “bad guys” while she’s at it. Though John Thornton is arguably the villain in the story (at least to Margaret), Gaskell shows him struggling, dealing with trauma, and even facing classism himself. Gaskell does all this without once giving ground on the conditions faced by those who work for him and the other mill owners. 10/10, I wish this was as popular as Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice.