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bagpuss_janet 's review for:
Mary Barton
by Elizabeth Gaskell
Seamstress Mary Barton lives in Manchester with her widowed father, John, a factory worker and prominent member of the local trade union. Mary has two suitors, the working-class Jem and mill owner’s son Harry. She determines to marry the latter to make conditions for her father easier, but on rejecting Jem, she realises that she’s made the wrong decision - and that decision may have far-reaching consequences for those she holds dear…
Manchester is considered to be the world’s first industrial city, and the growth of various industries in the early 1800s meant expansion and profit for the mill and factory owners, but sadly these profits were not passed on to the lower classes. Amongst other themes, this novel explores poverty and the wide disparity between rich and poor (some things never change!). I’ve read and enjoyed a number of Gaskell’s novels, and this was no exception. I’d love a new BBC adaptation (I read an article from 2012 suggesting one was in the offing, but sadly it didn’t materialise, and the 1964 version is unavailable), and I hope to visit Gaskell’s house in Manchester later this year.
Manchester is considered to be the world’s first industrial city, and the growth of various industries in the early 1800s meant expansion and profit for the mill and factory owners, but sadly these profits were not passed on to the lower classes. Amongst other themes, this novel explores poverty and the wide disparity between rich and poor (some things never change!). I’ve read and enjoyed a number of Gaskell’s novels, and this was no exception. I’d love a new BBC adaptation (I read an article from 2012 suggesting one was in the offing, but sadly it didn’t materialise, and the 1964 version is unavailable), and I hope to visit Gaskell’s house in Manchester later this year.