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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN num: 9780140434644
ISBN number: 014043464X
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 464
Printing Date: April 01, 1997
Publishing house: Penguin Classics
Sale Popularity Level: 62841
Studio: Penguin Classics
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The plot turns on Mary's romantic choice between the son of a rich industrialist and a working-class lover. The class-divide and the widening gap between rich and poor are central themes in a novel originally named after Mary Barton's father, John Barton.
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Rated by buyers 
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I am a 19th century period drama avid reader and addict. This summer I read every single one of Ms. Gaskell's novels and just love the history she writes in all her novels. In college, I wasn't able to appreciate her writing because I read in a flash, did a review and got my grade. But here I am, years later, reading her novels again and with so much pleasure. Recommend all of Ms. Gaskell's novels if your an period drama reader; then read Jane Austin, Wilkie Collins, George Elliot, Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens, etc.
Rated by buyers -
This book shows the opposite side of life of Gaskell's final novel, Wives and Daughters. Where Molly Gibson (another girl sharing her name appears in Mary Barton, too!) deals with a pettish and jealous stepmother and the perils of moving in society, Mary Barton's father worked the looms that perhaps provided the Gibsons with their fine dresses.
Unlike Dickens in Hard Times, Gaskell does not dwell so much on the physical aspects of Manchester (OK, Dickens didn't actually write about Manchester, but the city he used *was* Manchester) and their symbolism of moral and societal pollution, but she shows the effects of man's inhumanity to man. Her morality is quietly moving, not dogmatic. The workers' agitations and subsequent deadly repercussions are dealt with in a firm but understanding light. While she condemns the act, the motivating factors (i.e. workers' treatment) can be understood.
Gaskell's working class book isn't as slick or symbolic as, say Germinal, but it is effective. Although the love story in itself is moving, we can also see it as the nobility of human spirit no matter where it lives or works. While the novel is titled Mary Barton, Mary serves as a tool to teach us and reprove us.
I highly recommend Wives and Daughters as well--Gaskell has surely matured and her dialogue is sharp and social criticism even more biting.
Rated by buyers -
After watching the 2005 BBC TV-adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's novel "North and South", I was intrigued to go back and read the novel. I liked it so much, that I wanted to read more, and so found "Mary Barton". In both novels, I was impressed with Elizabeth Gaskell's keen insight into the human spirit - despair, doubt, kindness, love, compassion, hopelessness, loyalty, frivolity, and most of everything in between. She has a rare talent to create believable male and female characters (with their inherent differences in perception and interpretation) at all walks of life, and to inspire compassion and understanding for all her characters' actions. The plot is largely divided between mystery and romance, both of which are done well. This is definitely a book I would recommend to fellow Austen fans!
Compared to the majority of modern novels, her writing has more of a leisurely pace to it and she takes the time to describe the emotional inner workings of her characters as much as she devotes to outward plot development. The frequent historical or literary references not immediately at a current-day reader's fingertips are explained well in this edition's notes at the end for those who want to know (like me).
Historically, this book is a fascinating treatise of the working class toil, life, and death in the mid-1800s in Manchester, England, the rise of trade unions, and the trouble attendant therewith. Gaskell's astute observations about the living conditions of the poor in that day and age make for a compelling and thought-provoking read. It is hard to leave her books not feeling that the two opposite points of view of masters and men can be true, and that compassion might go a long way to bridge the gap.
Rated by buyers 
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I ordered the book after watching "north and south" tv adaptation
to another of elisabeth gaskell's book. i was curious to know more from this writer.
but this one was nothing similar:
the plot is slow, including irrelevant and too detailed side stories.
the main characters are not clear and are very distant to the reader,
in a way it's hard to care for them. so it was easy leaving the book in the middle.
Rated by buyers -
Although this is not Gaskell's best novel, it is still well done and contains quite a bit of drama and romance. Much of the book concentrates on life in a manufacturing town, however, the love story has a prominent place. The characters in this book are lovable and fallable, as usual in Gaskell's work, and overall very realistic. This novel is set up much like "North and South" yet not as well put together, and with quite different characters. There is the struggle between masters and men and a love affair unrequitted on the female end with family and friends dropping like flies on account of mental or physical anxiety. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes Gaskell, Dickens, and the time period of early industrialization in England.
As to the edition, Everyman's Library always makes a nice hard copy. It includes a biography and timeline of work as well as the author's preface and an introduction by Jenny Uglow.
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