Margaret of the North

undefined

A Victorian feminist tames her man. What happens after the titillating ending of the BBC miniseries, North and South, based on Elizabeth kell's novel? An enduring love. Impossible, some people would say. But those are the skeptics and this is a novel, a piece of "blissful escapism for a teeny tiny price, " as one reviewer said. The love between Margaret and John is deep, lasting, and compelling, full of "small touches and shared looks ... little moments that serve to create a lovely, palpable air" between John and Margaret. A guilty pleasure.They honeymoon in a vibrant mid-century Paris when impressionism was beginning to take hold and cafés were the place to be. They spend days of ease in Cadiz. These experiences change their outlook. A Victorian feminist. A woman who confronts modernity and industrialization in a harsh bustling northern city, she struggles, at the same time, with the age-old complexities of human relationships. Margaret Hale is one of those rare Victorian women characters who assert their individuality to curb a niche for themselves in a society that effectively negated them except as housewives and mothers--merely a nurturing background against which men did their thing. She whittles away at that repression, both self-imposed and socially-dictated. A vulnerable Victorian alpha male. The tender, sensitive, loving side of Thornton is evident throughout the novel, as well--not only in his encounters with Margaret but also in his caring for his workers, which develops further, with her help. This blurring of roles for both Margaret and Thornton has led them into a new way of meeting each other, more as persons than rigid role players. Margaret of the North resurrects kell's feminist-leaning themes and the trajectory of Margaret's growth is consistent with the character, as written by kell. A romance, yes. But one situated in changing times, changing social and sexual roles, and artistic upheavals.