I listened to the audio version of the book. The ending was very romantic such that I cried, although it felt abrupt when the couple finally united and the story immediately ended. This book is not as good as Gaskell's Wives and Daughters because it seems less plausible. When Margaret's father leaves the church and his calling as a pastor, it feels insufficiently explained. Such a major decision with adverse impact on her and her mother deserved better explanation to the reader. This was frustrating for me. Gaskell didn't shy away from other social issues, so explaining his doctrinal differences with the church would not have been out of place. This would have been interesting commentary about the mores of the period, which is the overall theme of the book. His leaving the church merely became a contrived reason for them moving North, and setting up the plot about the prejudices and distinctions between the coarse industrial North and more genteel, pastoral South. Part of my less favorable opinion about this book is that I didn't like the setting in Milton. Gaskell conveyed the North's distaste of the place so well to the reader that I didn't want to be there either. The accents were hard to understand or like.  One thing I did like was that Margaret had some fairly modern, dare I say feminist, ideas in terms of her leadership in protecting Mr Thornton, physically and later financially. She didn't need to be protected by him. Other, tired Victorian conventions I did not like -  too many swooning ladies and sudden deaths. Did women really faint so easily? Was it due to tight corsets? Did they fake fainting? It just doesn't ring true. The sudden deaths, such as Mr. Bell's, also felt like forced plot conveyances.
I listened to the audio version of the book. The ending was very romantic such that I cried, although it felt abrupt when the couple finally united and the story immediately ended. This book is not as good as Gaskell's Wives and Daughters because it seems less plausible. When Margaret's father leaves the church and his calling as a pastor, it feels insufficiently explained. Such a major decision with adverse impact on her and her mother deserved better explanation to the reader. This was frustrating for me. Gaskell didn't shy away from other social issues, so explaining his doctrinal differences with the church would not have been out of place. This would have been interesting commentary about the mores of the period, which is the overall theme of the book. His leaving the church merely became a contrived reason for them moving North, and setting up the plot about the prejudices and distinctions between the coarse industrial North and more genteel, pastoral South. Part of my less favorable opinion about this book is that I didn't like the setting in Milton. Gaskell conveyed the North's distaste of the place so well to the reader that I didn't want to be there either. The accents were hard to understand or like. One thing I did like was that Margaret had some fairly modern, dare I say feminist, ideas in terms of her leadership in protecting Mr Thornton, physically and later financially. She didn't need to be protected by him. Other, tired Victorian conventions I did not like -  too many swooning ladies and sudden deaths. Did women really faint so easily? Was it due to tight corsets? Did they fake fainting? It just doesn't ring true. The sudden deaths, such as Mr. Bell's, also felt like forced plot conveyances.