North and South

Author: Elizabeth Gaskell

Classic fiction (pre c 1945)

Published on 6 August 2026 by Penguin Books Ltd (Penguin Classics) in the United Kingdom as part of 'the Penguin Clothbound Classics' series.

Hardback | 496 pages
205 x 139 x 31 | 612g

A beautiful Penguin Clothbound Classics edition of Elizabeth Gaskell's most famous novel'How am I to dress up in my finery, and go off and away to smart parties, after the sorrow I have seen today?'Elizabeth Gaskell's compassionate, richly dramatic novel features one of the most original and fully-rounded female characters in Victorian fiction, Margaret Hale. It shows how, forced to move from the country to an industrial northern town, she develops a passionate sense of social justice, and a turbulent relationship with mill-owner John Thornton. North and South depicts a young woman discovering herself, in a nuanced portrayal of what divides people, and what brings them together.

This is a stunning new Clothbound Classics edition of Gaskell's famous novel, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. These delectable and collectible Penguin editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design.