Why a Booktrail?
1839 – 1842: Delve into Manchester life and experience life in the mills. Based on an actual murder makes it all the more authentic.
Mary Barton
What you need to know before your trail
This is Elizabeth Gaskell’s first novel, a widely acclaimed work based on the actual murder, in 1831, of a progressive mill owner.
Mary Barton, hopes to marry Henry Carson, the mill owner’s son. But when he is shot and her former lover becomes the main suspect, Mary is placed in a difficult situation.
Meanwhile Mary wants to make a better life for herself and her father, the trade unionist John Barton. But when he himself comes under suspicion, she has a battle on her hands and a personal tragedy seems certain. Set in Manchester, between 1837-42, it paints a powerful and moving picture of working-class life in Victorian England
Travel Guide
The assassination mill-owner, Thomas Ashton,happened on January 3, 1831. He was shot dead by striking workers in Manchester as a warning to their employers. The attack occurred in the midst of the rising tensions of the Victorian era at the time of the Industrial revolution.
There is lots of museums and places in the city where you can go and explore the past,much as it would have been like in Gaskells’s time such as the msimanchester.org.uk
The must see place to go has to be the house itself – –Elizabeth Gaskells’ House at 84 Plymouth Grove – the home of the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell from 1850 until her death in 1865
Streetview Maps
B) Manchester - Elizabeth Gaskell's house
B) Manchester - Elizabeth Gaskell's house
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information Mary Barton
Destination: Manchester Departure Time: 1839 – 1842
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