North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell

The Classics Club did a spin in November to select a book we had to read from our list by the end of December. I ended up having to read North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, my first Gaskell and certainly a novel I had been meaning to read for years. Although I had put this down as a book I wasn't all too excited to read I soon after found numerous booktubers who raved about this book so I went into it with high hopes.
This novel is set in the 19th century but unlike the novels of Jane Austen the novel lies outside of the Regency ballrooms and large estates and in largely set in the Industrial North. The main character is a fiesty young women, raised among the rich, with a middle class family and an urging to befriend the poor and scare off any wealthy, hardworking men who show any interest in her.
Even without having seen the booktubers videos I knew within minutes of meeting Mr Thorton that he was the love interest and all would turn out well in the end, it was just a matter of getting there. Much like Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy the pair are rivals and seem unable to say anything agreeable to each other.
I really enjoyed much of this novel, despites its predictability, however I lost a bit of focus in the middle section with the story of the brother, it just distracted from all the other characters I had come to care about.
I'm looking forward to picking up Cranford in the near future.