Ruth

''I think I must be an improper woman without knowing it, I do so manage to shock people.''

Elizabeth Gaskell''s second novel challenged contemporary social attitudes by taking as its heroine a fallen woman. Ruth Hilton is an orphan and an overworked seamstress, an innocent preyed upon by a weak, wealthy seducer. When he heartlessly abandons her she finds shelter and kindness in the home of a dis...