If you want a cheerful read, steer clear of Ruth. It’s a social novel on the ‘fallen woman’ theme and was a daring piece of work from the famous novelist whose next novel was North and South. I think modern readers will find it difficult to connect to Ruth and understand the situations which lead to her sad fate. Ruth is a teenage orphan who is working at a dressmaker’s sweatshop when she has the opportunity of meeting a dashing wealthy man, who takes her to Wales but he falls ill and is whisked away by his mother. Abandoned and pregnant, Ruth is taken in by a Dissenting minister. They pass her off as a young widow so that she and her son won’t be shunned by society. However, years later her past comes back to haunt her.
The character of Ruth is unrealistically angelic, despite her ‘sin’. Gaskell shows the reader that so-called fallen women deserve second chances and that everyone, particularly men, should change their attitudes. Ruth is a strongly moral character and makes some tough decisions to ensure she does what is true to God’s will, even though those decisions impact her health and ultimately end her life.
I think the novel is too old-fashioned to be enjoyed, if that’s the right word, by many readers today. It’s more likely to be studied for a literature course than picked up for a leisure read.
First published in 1853. This edition published by Oxford World’s Classics, 2011, with an introduction and notes by Tim Dolin.