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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN num: 9780140434309
ISBN number: 0140434305
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 432
Printing Date: March 01, 1998
Publishing house: Penguin Classics
Sale Popularity Level: 91616
Studio: Penguin Classics
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Product Description:
One of the less familiar of Mrs. Gaskell's novels, Ruth was in its own time a cause celebre which not only contributed substantially to its author's growing reputation but also won the approval of a number of her distinguished contemporaries. The text used for this edition is based upon that of the very first edition published in 1853.
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Rated by buyers 
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Ruth is a tale of redemption set in early nineteenth century England.
Ruth is a young seamstress who is seduced at the age of 16 by a despicable and stupid cad whose name is Henry Bellingham. He deserts her on a holiday in Wales forcing the pregnant Ruth to flee.
Ruth finds a lodging and Christian love at the home of an elderly clergyman the Rev. Benson, his maiden sister Faith and their grouchy but kindhearted maid Susan.
Years pass and Ruth is loved by the community until her secret is revealed through gossip. She remains in Eccleston winning the approbation of the community following her nursing patients in a typhoid fever plague sweeping the village. She rejects the advances of her erstwhile lover who is in Eccleston with a new name "Mr Donne" and a position as the MP in the British Parliament in London.
With her secret made manifest Ruth is able to soldier on in life. She is rejected by the stern Mr. Bradshaw who hired her for years as a teacher to his daughters Jemima, Mary and Elizabeth. Ruth wins favor when she dies nursing Bellingham in the epidemic as well as several other townspeople. Her former enemy Mr. Bradshaw even buys an ornate gravestone.
Ruth is a candid look at the Victorian double standard and the second class citizenship of women in British society. The novel is beautifully written with lyrical passages on bird and animal life and the change in seasons in a small English town in the nineteenth century . This reviewer fell in love with Ruth who reminds one of Esther Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne's American classic "The Scarlet Letter." Ruth is one of the best Victorian novels you will read for its compassionate view of the human condition. The sequences in which the major characters have dreams is especially well done. Ruth will win your heart!
Rated by buyers -
the story of that girl, and that "mistake" and how 90% of the world closes their door, and turns their back
Rated by buyers -
I have read most of Elizabeth Gaskell's books, and like some of her others, this one starts out slow, but builds in interest towards the middle. You really empathize with the main character, and the harsh judgement she receives is shocking by today's standards. The book provided a lot of food for thought and was an enjoyable read.
Rated by buyers -
"Ruth" is one of five books written by Elizabeth Gaskell. It deals with aspects of English life in the very first half of the 19th Century.
It is difficult to say much about the plot itself without giving away important details of the story. Suffice to say that Ruth, who is an orphan and from a humble background is put through the wringer of life.
The characters and their actions are often exaggerated to the point of almost being caricatures to modern readers. But this style maximises the emotional content of many of the incidents described in the book and is very typical of "romantic" English literature of the era. The same can be said of Dickens, Thackeray and Jane Austen.
Extended descriptive passages and the drawing-out of emotional scenes can be irritating because it slows down the narrative and is too obvious a device to hook the discerning reader. Presumably readers of the day loved this stuff - much as modern readers go for similar depictions on TV and in print.
However, the narrative itself is gripping, especially towards the end of the book when events reach their climax and the various threads of the plot are drawn together. There are exciting twists and turns in the plot, almost like a modern thriller. This is where Gaskell shines - she is a very skilful constructor of intricate story plots. It is difficult to put the book down as we near the end of the story.
Another area in which Gaskell shines is her depiction of characters, even though they might be standard "types" to readers of the day.
Mr Bellingham, who later changed his name to Mr Donne, is a central figure in the story, yet he is only superficially dealt with by the author. For much of the book he is just a ghostly presence. This appears to me to be such a glaring fault that I assume the handling of Bellingham/Donne was a conscious decision of Gaskell.
I can only assume that by making him such a shadowy, almost trivial, figure Gaskell makes the contrast with Ruth's trials and tribulations even more stark and harrowing. If that is indeed the case, then this book becomes more stylistically sophisticated and modern than a mere tear-jerking romance.
"Ruth", like all Gaskell's books is an enjoyable read for the story alone. One can skip over much of the purple descriptive bits without any loss. The book also gives a valuable insight into attitudes and ways of life in the early 19th century. This will interest readers who love history. Fiction such as this can illuminate social history.
Rated by buyers -
Mrs. Gaskell tackled a very controversial theme in this novel (having a child out of wedlock) and shocked many of her contemporary readers. Ruth Hilton, a dressmaker, is seduced by the wealthy Henry Bellingham; he deserts her, after which she bears his child. Taken in by the kindly Thurston Benson and his sister under the pretense of being a young widow, Ruth gains employment as governess to the Bradshaw family. When Bellingham returns and Ruth will have nothing to do with him, the self-righteous Mr. Bradshaw learns the truth of her past and dismisses her. In a disappointing (though perhaps obligatory for the time) ending, when Bellingham becomes ill with cholera, Ruth goes to his aid, contracts the disease, and dies. Many have questioned why Mrs. Gaskell had to have Ruth die, and it does seem unnecessary, except that throughout the book Ruth has been portrayed almost as perfect as an angel, and perhaps it was to the angels she needed to send her. The most human character (as opposed to typecasts, as most of the others are) is Sally, the Benson's servant girl; she is funny, brutally honest, and wonderfully practical, especially in her dealings with Ruth (the scene where she crops Ruth's hair to make her look like the widow she is claiming to be is delightful). Mrs. Gaskell's purpose in writing the book was to generate sympathy for women who were victims of unscrupulous men; forty years later Thomas Hardy wrote a similar themed novel, TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES. Ruth and Tess are twin characters in many ways. It's an interesting slice-of-life from the mid-Victorian period.
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