Ruth (Penguin Classics)
by Elizabeth Gaskell
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Book Summary Information
Author: Elizabeth GaskellEditor: Angus Easson
Introduction: Angus Easson
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-03-01
ISBN: 0140434305
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of Ruth (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: Ruth is a classic novel by the brilliant Elizabeth Gaskell which will hold your interest until the last page
Summary: 5 Stars
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!
Summary of Ruth (Penguin Classics)
Ruth Hilton is an orphaned young seamstress who catches the eye of a gentleman, Henry Bellingham, who is captivated by her simplicity and beauty. When she loses her job and home, he offers her comfort and shelter, only to cruelly desert her soon after. Nearly dead with grief and shame, Ruth is offered the chance of a new life among people who give her love and respect, even though they are at first unaware of her secret - an illegitimate child. When Henry enters her life again, however, Ruth must make the impossible choice between social acceptance and personal pride. In writing Ruth, Elizabeth Gaskell daringly confronted prevailing views about sin and illegitimacy with her compassionate and honest portrait of a fallen woman'.Classics Books
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