Falling for Mr Thornton, An Anthology

Falling for Mr Thornton :Tales of North and South—is the title of an anthology of short stories written by twelve authors who love Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South and/or its BBC adaptation into a four-part miniseries. And quite a title it is, promising riches to the thousands (millions, we hope?) of readers who’ve loved both book and miniseries.

I am one of the twelve authors. The book that has inspired us is in at least one list of  ten Victorian classic novels everyone should read which says it’s most likely Gaskell’s masterpiece. In addition to the love that blossoms (amidst obstacles, of course ) between its two passionate protagonists, John Thornton and Margaret Hale, the book spawned “factory novels.” This is an important achievement: Gaskell wrote her novel in the heart and heat of an industrializing society. It seems North and South also spurred Charles Dickens into producing his own factory novels.

If you like Victorian and Regency novels, get Falling for Mr Thornton and sample the varied and “familiar scenes from new points of view or re-imagined entirely … capturing all the poignancy, heartbreak, and romance of the original tale” (from the book blurb).