'It's the masters as has wrought this woe; it's the masters as should pay for it.' Set in Manchester in the 1840s - a period of industrial unrest and extreme deprivation - Mary Barton depicts the effects of economic and physical hardship upon the city's working-class community. Paralleling the novel's treatment of the relationship between masters and men, the suffering of the poor, and the workmen's angry response, is the story of Mary herself: a factory-worker's daughter who attracts the attentions of the mill-owner's son, she becomes caught up in the violence of class conflict when a brutal murder forces her to confront her true feelings and allegiances. Mary Barton was praised by contemporary critics for its vivid realism, its convincing characters and its deep sympathy with the poor, and it still has the power to engage and move readers today. This edition reproduces the last edition of the novel supervised by Elizabeth Gaskell and includes her husband's two lectures on the Lancashire dialect. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
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This is Elizabeth Gaskell at her best, and Shirley Foster's edition is both sagacious and formally accurate. The appendices are invaluable and the explanatory notes are relevant without being obtrusive. A must for readers of Mary Barton. Dr. Antonio Ballesteros-Gonzalez, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
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'Gaskell's shocking, moving and contemporary account of the corrosive effects of injustice and poverty' Sunday Telegraph
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I approached my first Gaskell novel with a touch of apprehension and I have to admit I didn't enjoy the first few pages, but after a while I was hooked.
Even if the plot is improbable at times, the story is entertaining and the gallery of characters presented is memorable. The description of an industrial city in the 19th century is deeply moving. All in all, a great achievement. A must read.
Even if the plot is improbable at times, the story is entertaining and the gallery of characters presented is memorable. The description of an industrial city in the 19th century is deeply moving. All in all, a great achievement. A must read.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By mrs_t
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Mary Barton is one of those books that sometimes makes for uncomfortable reading, because it is so sad and the era so bleak...however...it is also heart warming, full of characters that you truly get to know and love and necessary as an evocative history of that period. I would totally recommend it, however , not as a holiday book - it's heavy and needs to be viewed as such or it'll really get to you! superb
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. Ian A. Macfarlane
TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Elizabeth Gaskell was most famous for 'Cranford' and, I suppose, after the excellent BBC TV adaptation, also 'North and South'. This is an earlier book and shows signs of inexperience and even naivete in the narration, but it carries the reader forward by the power of a compelling story and, even more, the moral conviction that lies behind Mrs. Gaskell's concern for the working people in the book and the hard, uncertain lives they lead, struggling with poverty, disease and uncertain employment in Industrial Revolution Manchester. Her compassion and her Christian conscience are everywhere apparent in the tale of Mary, torn between her love for Jem Wilson and her anxiety for her brooding, damaged father. Relations between workers and employers are central in the book, but the author does not see things in simple black and white, them and us terms, though she is very critical of the effects of the employers' decisions. Mr. Carson, the millowner, himself a man who has achieved financial power by hard graft, is not a one-dimensional figure, and his behaviour towards the end shows a depth of human decency which enhances the book. It's a dark tale, with a murder at its centre, and the courageous journey Mary makes to Liverpool to find a key witness for the trial makes compelling reading. Characterisation can be thin (though Job Legh, the old self-taught naturalist, is interesting) and Mrs. Gaskell has a tendency to overwrite in places, but this is still an important and impressive book, and it repays the reader many times over.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Research on Manchester during 19th century
Although Elizabeth Gaskell lived in close proximity to the area of the area Manchester she describes, I wonder in fact
if she ever experienced at first hand or saw the... Read more
if she ever experienced at first hand or saw the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by L. Carver
1.0 out of 5 stars
Miserable in Manchester
I am not someone who tends to read blurbs before I read a book yet as `Mary Barton' was a book group choice and we vote on one of three titles chosen by a member and so we read the... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Simon Savidge Reads
3.0 out of 5 stars
I know it's a classic but.........you have to work a bit too hard
I have to admit that I struggled through the first half of Mary Barton. I understand it has social and historical importance but I found it dreary, lacking in subtlety and... Read more
Published 13 months ago by lmhh
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great writer....
Wonderful to read of Greenheys in Moss Side,Manchester, as a rural community with farm gates.
But more significant, for Mrs Gaskell's being able to see what it means to be... Read more
But more significant, for Mrs Gaskell's being able to see what it means to be... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Rev Ian H
3.0 out of 5 stars
Between Agnes and Little Emily
I think this lady's background might be between Agnes and Emily.
She was good manner,but labor class. Read more
She was good manner,but labor class. Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2010 by Susanna Huang
3.0 out of 5 stars
Historically Interesting
This is the first of Elizabeth Gaskill's novels, and therefore isn't her best. Her author's voice is far too domineering, at times lecturing; and the minor characters given too... Read more
Published on 11 Oct 2010 by Creative David
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell. Very satisfied. The book was in good condition, as stated, and arrived quickly. thank you
Published on 28 Sep 2010 by Mrs. D. P. Geal
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
I loved this book - a bit like "Conditions of the English Working Class" by Engles written in the same period, but with a well written story. I will read it again.
Published on 21 Aug 2010 by DHB1
5.0 out of 5 stars
best gaskell book
i found this one of the best gaskells i have read. it had everything from love, murder, revenge, misery and joy, i dont know what more you would want from a book? Read more
Published on 10 April 2010 by shell
4.0 out of 5 stars
Angry 'industrial' novel
Mrs Gaskell rather appointed herself as the defender of the working classes and there is much anger in her novels. Read more
Published on 20 Dec 2009 by Roman Clodia
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