The Essential Reads

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell chapter 16 "The Shadow of Death", narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :D⁠https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/join⁠Summary:A doctor has finally come to see Mrs. Hale, but in spite of how close Margaret and her mother have become, Margaret is not permitted to be in the room with the doctor and her mother. Margaret goes into her mother’s room to wait for the doctor to finish. She hears all sorts of concerning sounds from her mother and then the sound of scraping chairs. The doctor closes the room behind Mrs. Hale and Margaret goes to ask him questions. He is very hesitant to respond at first, Mrs. Hale asked him not to tell her about state of her health, but Margaret is very persistent. He eventually submits, and tells Margaret calmly, but sadly, that Mrs. Hale is very ill and does not have terribly long left. Margaret is distraught and tries to calm herself enough to ask more questions in spite of her tears. He says that he will come back to check on her mother and lets Margaret know that she must look at him as a friend and not just a doctor, it is the only way to go forwards. Following the doctor’s departure, Margaret goes into her mother’s room and takes her mother’s hand, letting her know that the doctor told her the truth of her illness. Mrs. Hale is very upset with her but does not let go of Margaret’s hand. Margaret begs her mother to let her act as a nurse, saying that she will learn whatever she can from Dixon, but Mrs. Hale is very caution of this. They then talk of Helstone, and while Mrs. Hale admits that she never really liked the place, the thought of never seeing it again greatly upsets her, but the idea of never being able to see her son, Frederick, again force the tears out. Margaret calls to Dixon for help. After Mrs. Hale has been calmed, Dixon and Margaret talk about her mother’s sickness, and Dixon tells Margaret that she must not tell her father the real extent of Mrs. Hale’s sickness; Margaret never intended to do so, not right away, but this conversation managed to mend the relationship between Margaret and Dixon. Dixon tells Margaret to go on a walk to recover herself before Mr. Hale comes home.SEO stuff I don't want to do. Elizabeth Gaskell's classic, "North and South" sees Margaret Hale's live uprooted as her family moves to the north of England. Initially disgusted by the ugliness of the industrial town of Milton, Margaret develops a strong sense of social justice after seeing the poverty and suffering of local mill workers.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell chapter 15 "Masters and Men", narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :D⁠https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/join⁠Summary:Mr Hale and Margaret go to repay a visit to Mrs. Thornton. Mr Hale finally starts to talk about his wife’s health which Margaret likes, having been worried about his nonchalance. He is worried about her and feels scared that their coming to Milton will be the death of her. Margaret tries to calm him a little, but they are nonetheless both worried. When they arrive in the Marlborough Street, they are shocked to not find a large stately house, considering the wealth of Mr. Thornton. Asking a passer by, they find out that Mr. Thornton resides in the house that connects to his factory. The walls are darkened by the smoke of the factory, but inside the house, everything is perfectly clean and white, spotless. The two talked quietly together before being joined by Mrs. Thornton. Margaret tried to explain to the woman that her mother was not well enough to come, but because she tried to explain it in a way that wouldn’t make her father more worried either, she give the impression to Mrs. Thornton that Mrs. Hale could have made the effort if she could be bothered to. They talk about Mr. Thornton, and his mother declares that she doesn’t see the point in her son taking up his studies again; he should focus on his business. A man should focus on maintaining his place amongst the ranks of the merchants, and her son is known all over Europe amongst the merchant class. Mr. Hale and Margaret had never heard of him before Mr. Bell told them of him. Mrs. Thornton picked up on this and asked them flat out if they knew about him. They end up saying that Mr. Bell told them of her son. Mrs. Thornton then brings up the topic of a strike that is going to be taking place in the city of Milton. Her son is going to be incredibly busy dealing with it. Later, Mr. Thornton goes to join the Hales at their place of residence to give them a doctor’s name and address. Margaret thanks him deeply. Mr. Hale brings up the strike. Mr. Thornton explains what is happening and goes on to explain that the workers do not know what is going on behind the scenes, the only thing that they care about is that their wages are not being increased, they have no idea that the business are struggling more than in previous years. He says also have no right to know what a businessman does with his money, and that they shouldn’t care about it either. Margaret test him on this but also claims that she knows so little about economics that she cannot properly push him on the subject. They go back and forth a little bit and then Margaret brings up someone abusing the masters and Mr. Thornton presser her asking who she heard saying such things. Margaret goes back and says that if workers are kept ignorant, then it is better for the Masters. Mr. Hale tries to get his daughter to be quiet, as he hears Mr. Thornton getting offended. Mr. Thornton then tries to explain his position further and goes to say that he wishes to work to benefit both his workers and himself, but he feels no need to explain his actions to them. Mr. Thornton then leaves saying goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Hale, and then to Margaret after privately apologising to her for his tone of voice.SEO stuff I don't want to do. Elizabeth Gaskell's classic, "North and South" sees Margaret Hale's live uprooted as her family moves to the north of England. Initially disgusted by the ugliness of the industrial town of Milton, Margaret develops a strong sense of social justice after seeing the poverty and suffering of local mill workers.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell chapter 14 "The Meeting", narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :D⁠https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/join⁠Summary:Margaret and her mother are growing closer in her illness, and Margaret is finally feeling like she has the place she always wanted. One evening when Mr. Hale is out, her mother starts to talk of Margaret’s brother Fredrick. There was a terrible storm the previous night, and every time there is a storm, Mrs. Hale claims that she can only think of Fredrick on a ship somewhere in the sea. She says that she is very glad that he is now on shore again. Margaret asks where he is based now, and her mother responds that he is somewhere in Spain, but that he has taken the name of Dickenson, so that he cannot be recognised. Margaret asks properly, for the first time, what truly happened. Mrs. Hale sends Margaret to her cabinet to get some letters from Fredrick. Margaret starts to read the letters, but her mother takes over and tells her what happened. Fredrick was put onto a ship called the Orian where he worked under a man called Mr Ried, whom he did not like. Later he was put on another ship called the Russell, where said Mr. Ried was in command. Fredrick promised that he would try to get along with the captain, but it seems that Mr Ried is a very strict captain. One letter tells how Mr. Ried threatened to flog the last sailor to climb down from the rigging, and the men, terrified of the beating that would await them raced down as fast as they could. The highest man decided it would be quicker for him to jump and try to catch a rope on his way down, but he missed and hit the deck instead. Mrs. Hale says that they only received this news after the mutiny. That captain Ried was sent off to drift in a boat with a few men while the rest set off to be pirates. Mrs. Hale was certain that her Fredrick would be with Mr Ried and that his surname had just been misspelled in the newspaper. When Mr. Hale came back from collecting the paper that day he was so stunned that he could hardly speak, and when Mrs. Hale read that paper, the was so disgusted by what was written about her son that she ripped it up, even with her teeth. She is certain that he son was innocent in the affair, and even if he wasn’t, she is prouder of him for defending the innocents than letting people be bullied. Margaret then asks if it would be possible for her brother to come home one day to which Mrs. Hale tearfully responds that he would be hanged if he were to ever come back to England. On announcing this, Mrs. Hale turns away from her daughter, too hurt by the thought of her son’s punishment.SEO stuff I don't want to do. Elizabeth Gaskell's classic, "North and South" sees Margaret Hale's live uprooted as her family moves to the north of England. Initially disgusted by the ugliness of the industrial town of Milton, Margaret develops a strong sense of social justice after seeing the poverty and suffering of local mill workers.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell chapter 13 "Soft Breeze In A Sultry Place", narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :D⁠https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/join⁠Summary:Margaret goes to the Higgins’ house to spend as much time and she can with Bessy. Mary, her sister, has tried to tidy the house but she hasn’t done a very good job of it. Bessy it not doing well and is laying on a short sofa in the living room. Bessy asks Margaret about her clothes and is stunned when Margaret says that she got them from London. Margaret then tells Bessy about Helstone, the first time she has talked about it since they came to Milton. She describes the birds, the farmers, and the trees and Bessy listens attentively. Bessy says that she used to believe that if she just had one day to relax in a place like Helstone, then she would have gotten better. She is afraid that she would even need time to rest before going to heaven. Bessy has an attack of Hysteria from her illness and nearly attacks Margaret but is soon out of breath and Margaret calms her down. Margaret says that she is not afraid of Bessy after what happened. Bessy says that she was well before her mother passed away, but after that, she was forced to work, and in a carding mill, her lungs got full of the fluff from cutting the cards. Bessy says that many people get sick from it, and that she isn’t the only one sick. She says too that there are sorts of fans that millers can buy to help get rid of the dust, but because it doesn’t bring a profit, they don’t get bought. She had to work to help send her sister to school, and her father had a habit of going to costly lectures and now she is sick… Bessy then asks if Margaret could become friends with her sister too. Margaret says that she can, but it would be difficult to get Mary a job in her own home to stop her from going to the Mills. At home and as time goes on, Mrs. Hale is getting sicker. Mr. Hale wishes to dismiss his wife’s illness, but he knows that she is sick. Margaret wishes to send for a doctor, but he doesn’t want to, believing that his wife would tell him if she needed one. He knows however that his wife is indeed ill and just doesn’t want to think about it potentially being his fault for bringing his family to Milton. SEO stuff I don't want to do. Elizabeth Gaskell's classic, "North and South" sees Margaret Hale's live uprooted as her family moves to the north of England. Initially disgusted by the ugliness of the industrial town of Milton, Margaret develops a strong sense of social justice after seeing the poverty and suffering of local mill workers.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell chapter 12 "Morning Calls", narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :D⁠https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/join⁠Summary:Mr. Thornton has some difficulties in convincing his mother to visit the Hale’s. Though he bought her a carriage to make her life easier, she refused to let him keep horses. She didn’t think that she would make enough visits to warrant the price. He rents horses for her for the day. Mrs. Thornton’s relationship with her children is strange, though she uses terms like “dear” and “love” with her daughter and only calls her son “John,” and talks to him as if he were just a normal person, not her son, she cares far more for her son than her sickly daughter. The following day, Mrs. Thornton tells her daughter, Fanny, that she is going to have horses for the day and asks if she would like to see the nurse. Fanny says that she has a headache and would prefer if the nurse could come to visit her at home. When John enters, he tells his sister that she will, regardless of headache, be visiting the Hales with her mother. He leaves before she can try to protest. Mrs. Thornton is curious as to why her son wishes them to meet these Hales so much.At the Hale’s, Mrs. Thornton notices that place is full of knickknacks, and notes to herself that it must be a lot of time-consuming work to dust everything, and that for people with little income, time spent is money wasted. Mrs. Thornton sits with Mrs. Hale, and Fanny with Margaret. Fanny asks lots of questions to Margaret about music and seems to be testing Margaret’s patience as she gives rather cold answers. Fanny asks her then if she has ever been to London, and when Margaret says that she lived there for several years, Fanny is full of glee, saying that she would love to be able to go there. Margaret is confused as to why she has never been there, but Fanny says that her mother won’t let her go there, she is too attached to Milton. On this, Mrs. Thornton asks why the girls are speaking about her. Fanny gives a response that vexes Margaret. Mrs. Thornton then presses Margaret to know what she knows of Milton, whether she has been to nay of the factories. Margaret says that she does not really care for factories. Mrs. Thornton is very proud of Milton and says that if Margaret will consider lowering herself to visit one, then a visit could indeed be arranged. Later on, in the cab Mrs. Thornton says that they shall maintain a civil relationship with the family but warns her daughter against becoming close with Margaret. Fanny says that she does not need to worry about that. SEO stuff I don't want to do. Elizabeth Gaskell's classic, "North and South" sees Margaret Hale's live uprooted as her family moves to the north of England. Initially disgusted by the ugliness of the industrial town of Milton, Margaret develops a strong sense of social justice after seeing the poverty and suffering of local mill workers.