Elizabeth and Ruth by Livi Michael
Elizabeth and Ruth is a work of historical fiction wrought from the life of the Victorian author Elizabeth Gaskell, best known for her first novel Mary Barton (1848), a radical critique of the treatment of the working class published under a pseudonym. The Ruth from Livi Michael's title appears in her novel as Pasley, a young Irish prostitute who was abandoned as a child and finds herself in Manchester's New Bailey Prison after a difficult and unjust hand at life. Set in Manchester between 1839 and 1842, the novel examines the harsh conditions endured by the Victorian working poor and interrogates the extent to which the wealthy (including Gaskell herself) were responsible for addressing these injustices.
| Elizabeth and Ruth by Livi Michael | |
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| Category: Historical Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Heather Magee
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| Summary: The simplicity of Livi Michael's language makes the narrative very clear, and the dual-perspective structure is an interesting idea that works well in drawing the reader in. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 304 | Date: February 2026 |
| Publisher: Salt | |
| ISBN: 9781784633684 | |
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In the novel, Gaskell meets Pasley and, after hearing her life story and learning of the hardships she has endured, her conscience compels her to intervene in the hope of rescuing the girl from a life of poverty and violence. Elizabeth is portrayed as kind-hearted, supported by her similarly socially minded husband, William Gaskell, and their four children. However, she is also depicted as deeply naïve and, at times, selfish: although Elizabeth is determined to help Pasley, she struggles with the reality that few people would employ a former prostitute recently released from prison, and she herself is no exception. She fears that her children will adopt the wrong ideas about life from Pasley if she is accepted into their home. In desperation, she turns to Charles Dickens for advice.
Elizabeth and Ruth ultimately becomes a story of hypocrisy, injustice and the obstacles against social reform, examining how Elizabeth must navigate the prejudice of the period in her attempts both to help Pasley and to write a novel inspired by her life, a work that was eventually banned and burned after publication.
While I am conscious that the plot itself cannot necessarily be criticised, as it is an imagined reconstruction of real events, the novel's language and structure is notably direct, with its ideas often explicitly spelled out. Although the Victorian setting is clear, in my opinion it was not especially evocative; the use of specific locations and historical references felt deliberate rather than effortlessly integrated, limiting the sense of immersion. Having not read much historical fiction myself though, this could just be a feature of the genre that I am not used to, as I have read other reviews that claim the setting of this book is extremely immersive.
The narrative alternates between the perspectives of Gaskell and Pasley, a structure that effectively highlights the emotional, social, and economic distance between them. I enjoyed reading Gaskell's anxieties as they compared to Pasley's, as it exposed the chasm between what one class of society finds stressful and arduous compared to another.
The novel concludes with a very open-ended resolution, and in general the message seemed firmly undecided on the ethics of the forms of charitable intervention by individuals in Victorian society. Perhaps this was a purposeful choice, inviting the reader to ponder on the choices available to well-meaning individuals like Elizabeth Gaskell, and how they would have acted in her place. All in all, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to fans of the historical fiction genre.
I would like to thank the publishers for sending a copy of this book to the Bookbag. If you enjoy historical fiction set in Victorian England, then I recommend Cross My Palm by Sara Stockbridge .
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You can read more book reviews or buy Elizabeth and Ruth by Livi Michael at Amazon.com. (Paid link)
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