North and South is set in the fictional industrial town of Milton in the North of England. Forced to leave her home in the tranquil rural south, Margaret Hale settles with her parents in Milton where she witnesses the brutal world wrought by the industrial revolution and employers and workers clashing in the first organized strikes. Sympathetic to the poor whose courage and tenacity she admires and among whom she makes friends, she clashes with John Thornton, a cotton mill manufacturer who belongs to the nouveaux riches and whose contemptuous attitude to workers Margaret despises. Thornton also happens to be a pupil, and good friend, of her father, so Margaret must strive to at least be civil when he comes to call at their home. As the novel continues Margaret grows in her understanding of the complexity of labor relations and their impact on well-meaning mill owners, and her conflicted relationship with John Thornton. At one point Thornton proposes to her, but she refuses him. Later, he sees her with her fugitive brother, whom he mistakes for another suitor, and this creates further unresolved conflict. Margaret, once she believes she has lost his affection, begins to see him in another light, and eventually they are reunited.
18 Hours and 56 Minutes
