Common Ground: A North and South Continuation (Margaret of Milton)

This variation of North and South is based on the miniseries and starts on the northbound train. It’s a short work that replaces the prickly, proud and struggling people of the original book with shallow people whose simple problems are all solved once they agree to work together for the common good.

Margaret, returning to Milton engaged to John, expects him to reopen the mill using her inheritance. He wants to work for someone else--making money to be the sole support of their household and also saving enough to start a mill again someday. Not only are they to live poorly, but it becomes increasingly likely that he would not be able to support wife, mother and possible children on whatever job he may get, so the wedding may need to be postponed. At the same time, Marlborough Mills, Margaret’s property, is empty (except for John’s looms, etc.) and John is not moving to either finish closing the business (finding a sub-letter to release him from the responsibility of the rent payments, or removing his equipment) or to help Margaret generate other income from the property. The most amazing thing about this is the lack of any discussion of the workers. Margaret, who has such a great care for the workers—and especially for the Higgins family (in Gaskell’s novel)—does not point out (or seemingly notice) that workers are in desperate situations because they have no jobs. She and Mrs. Thornton are busy preparing for her wedding (and buying new furnishings for the house that John certainly can’t afford to maintain for them on his own eventual earnings). I was so alienated from the characters in the first few chapters that the implausible solution to the “big” problem (the failure of Watson’s speculation) was less of an issue. Actually, I think I was suspicious about the fidelity of the vagary to the original when I saw the cover of the book. That dress might be appropriate for Fanny Thornton, but Margaret Hale would not be so ruffled and bowed.

Common Ground is a continuation of the BBC 2004 adaptation of North and South, and starts right after the epic train station scene. As always I was thrilled to read more about the trip to Milton and John and Margaret’s lives, especially because Common Ground proved to be a very balanced paced book which kept my attention from the beginning until the end.
Unlike many novels that are mainly focused on John and Margaret’s relationship, or the working classes’ struggles, Common Ground actually gives a lot of relevance to the difficulties faced by the masters, namely the effects speculation had on their business. I personally thought it was interesting to see the author explore the topic of speculation itself instead of just mentioning it, the historical research behind this idea and its transposition to the book made this a very unique variation. Also, the fact that it’s not the workers but the masters facing difficulties made this story particularly different and refreshing as in a twist of events the masters need to come together and unite their efforts to save their business, with Thornton assuming a main role, of course :). I will not go into much detail because I don’t want to spoil the book, but it is indeed a very different storyline.
I highly appreciated the focus on these topics but on the other hand I also felt that the moments between John and Margaret were not enough, and I did miss the romance between these two characters. Even so, the epilogue was satisfying and I liked seeing what happened to the cotton mills and our beloved characters, especially John Thornton :)
Another change in this book was Hanna Thornton’s character who was not portrayed as an overbearing mother and cold distant mother in law. Curiously enough, in Common Ground the anti-hero role is delegated to Fanny who is shown to be an irrational girl posing many problems to our couple.
Margaret’s family was not the cause for many troubles, but they were against the wedding and even though this is something I would expect to see in a N&S variation, it doesn’t happen very frequently, so once again Elaine Owen surprised me on the creativity of her plot and character development. And speaking of characters, Dixon is absent during the majority of the book and is only briefly mentioned in the end of it, isn’t that different? Honestly, I’m not very fond of this character, so when at 60% of the book I realized she was not there, I truly liked it :)

The problem with loving Elizabeth Gaskell books, is that she hasn't gotten nearly the attention of Jane Austen, for example, so there aren't as many fan fiction works available. But Elaine Owen does a great job of continuing the love story of Margaret Hale and John Thornton from "N & S". She brings in his mother (of course) who has her own opinions on how things should be, and his sister Fanny and her new husband, who as you might expect, are nothing but trouble! Her characterizations are spot on, and she doesn't change their natures from what Gaskell original wrote (something I find is a flaw in many fan fiction works). My only gripe is that the book is too short, as I'd love the story of Margaret and John to go on for years. But this book has convinced me to find other Owen books. Her writing is so good!