Nowhere but North: A North and South Variation

By: Nicole Clarkston

Narrated by: Deborah Balm

Length: 18 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Can the pieces of a broken past be enough to build a solid future?

Haunted by sorrow and regret, Margaret Hale stands at the precipice of an uncertain destiny. Fiercely determined but not knowing how to find her way, she risks the little she has left on the heart she once shattered - hoping somehow to win back his respect, if not his love.

Since he was a boy, John Thornton has fought the consequences of his father’s mistakes. Resolved to overcome past failings and the disdain of the world, he has striven for wealth, respect, and personal honour, but he is denied love. Now, all he had previously gained is slipping away, but he cannot resist a second chance with the woman he once lost. Crushed on all sides, all he has left to offer the one who needs him most is a home, and a heart that aches for her. 

Can a struggling manufacturer ever be enough for a woman who deserves the world? Can a grieving, inexperienced young woman learn to look beyond her Southern past to appreciate her Northern man? When sorrow and fear threaten to conquer them both, they must overcome the odds to find the strength to forge a better life ahead. 

This dramatic tale delves into the wonderful world of Elizabeth Gaskell’s epic North and South.

©2018 Nicole Clarkston (P)2019 Nicole Clarkston

The ending we never got to hear

I have longed to hear more of their happily ever after. This variation is everything I’d hoped for and I’ll be reading it again

Fun and romantic!

Fun and romantic! I just hoped they got a proper narrator. Thank you. Would over and over

This was quite good.

This was quite good. The story draws you in and continues one of my favorite stories. If you haven't read the first (North and South). I would recommend starting with it. The reading was well done. Each character sounded distinct.

Outstanding story

I loved the storyline and the background of Margaret and John just an outstanding job. Oh, I love this variation.

Engaging N&S variation

I really enjoy variations on original stories, but often wish for more depth than what just another light, sweet, twist has to offer. This N&S variation meets that wish and the narration is excellent. Further, I feel that the best stories engage more than one or two emotions, and Nowhere but North achieved this mark.

Again not enough of the future but still good

loved it but it needed more of their future as that would have been more than the other similar books. However as they haven't been converted to Audible yet, I'll just have to make do with these fine books

Love this story

I have read this book before so it was great to have it on audible.

A great re-imagining

My snobby pal, Brenda, who has a literature degree, thinks these variations on the classics are by lazy writers cashing in, and for lazy readers that can’t be bothered to read the original. Well, that’s her problem! She doesn’t know what she’s missing!

I loved this and spent the last 20 minutes of it smiling because everything comes together so satisfactorily. Admittedly, I felt at one point Margaret had turned from being the intelligent, willful young woman Mrs Gaskell imagined into a submissive ninny (when visiting her family in London). And there were times when I was frustrated by the Mills and Boon-style misunderstandings between John and Margaret but, overall, I loved that this book takes you deeper into the relationship between them in a way that the original couldn’t because it had to reflect Victorian mores. The writing does have the feel and rhythms of the times, however, so the flavour of the original is maintained.

I came to this story after seeing the BBC adaptation with Richard Armitage and, I must confess, his was the face I attached to the wonderful John Thornton who is now, probably, my second favourite classical hero after Darcy. He sets the old heart fluttering more than once!

So, Brenda, and other B.Lits, brace yourselves and tighten your corsets! You’re about be outraged!