North and South and the intersections of environment and health

Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South is a novel of contrasts: a juxtaposition of people and philosophies encapsulated by the geographical distinctions of the title. The north is represented by the “smoky, dirty” industrial town of Milton in the north of England (95), and the south by the idyllic Hampshire village of Helstone, with its “fresh and open air” (103). First published in serial form in 1854-5, North and South does not focus on illness per se, but its attention to location and to industry, and to the physical and mental wellbeing of the working class, inevitably prompts reflections on the occupational health difficulties that have haunted the history of industrialization.