North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell Margaret Hale and her family must move to an industrial town in the north of England called Milton. Her father has resigned as a clergyman due to a conflict of his faith. He moves the family to this place to become a tutor to working men, far away from their home in Helstone (in the south) so he does not have to be reminded of his failures there. Margaret is resigned to go, believing she never cared for Helstone anyway, having returned to her parents after being raised by her aunt Shaw. She goes believing she will be lonely, though, as the Hales are used to gentlemen and ladies of a higher stature, and does not think anyone in her class will be living there. The Hales are rather poor, so this is a curious attitude, but I guess since her Aunt Shaw had some wealth the entire family socially benefited from it. In Milton Margaret becomes a regular visitor to a poor family after taking an interest in the sickly daughter of a working man named Higgi...