Margaret of The North

This is the fourth sequel to Elizabeth Gaskell’s North & South that I read. I enjoyed it very much which surprised me. My favorite thing about the book is that the love between John Thornton and Margaret Hale is constant. Their love never faltered, not even once. That aspect, I think, is very important to the story and honors Elizabeth Gaskell. Anything less would have ruined the book for me and I probably would not have finished it. Unlike many romance novels of today the hero and heroine get into huge misunderstandings throughout the book and run away from one another; even denying their love for each other at times. It was nice to see that is not the case in Margaret of the North.The character of Mrs Thornton,(John’s mother) is, I think, written closer to the Hannah Thornton of the book that Elizabeth Gaskell wrote. In the BBC miniseries Mrs Thornton, while strict and stiff, does seem just a tad softer than the Hannah Thornton in the book. I do wish though that in Margaret of The North that Hannah Thornton did not remain so mean-spirited for so long after John married Margaret. She was just awful and I could not like her at all. I also was a bit appalled at her initial reaction to John and Margaret’s first child. No matter who the mother is Elise was her grandchild and the first one at that.

I loved the passion between John and Margaret and it was great that the author included that aspect of their relationship. It was also very tastefully done. All of the scenes of quiet moments that John and Margaret spent together, in their bedroom, in the conservatory, in Paris and in Cadiz were so lovely. I always pictured John Thornton as an extremely passionate man who knows how to show his love to Margaret.

This book is very well written, but there are a few words in it that I had to look up. It is great learning new words but when it comes to reading books for pleasure I usually warn authors against using words that most people do not know or use in every day life. Just keep it simple.

All in all this is a very good book and I am glad that I read it.