Show Notes
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell chapter 22 "A Blow and Its Consequences", narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinSummary:Margaret waits for a long time before anyone of the Thornton family comes to see her. Fanny eventually walks in apologising for the wait and tells her that her brother is with his new Irish workmen and women in the factory, trying to reassure them before the strikes get worse. Mrs. Thornton then comes in and looks incredibly stern. Mrs. Thornton doesn’t seem to fully listen to Margaret when she asks for the waterbed, when she does respond, it is in response to the crashing sound of many bodies against the gates. John soon comes in and the crowd reacts with bloodlust as they hear Mr. Thornton’s voice in his house. Margaret fears that she is a coward but forgets herself and only feels a deep sympathy. He tells his mother and the maid to get upstairs to safety. Margaret is watching at the window and then turns to Mr. Thornton to ask where his imported workers are. He responds that they are in the factory, but that it is not the workers that the crowd wants, but himself. His mother asks how long until the soldiers should arrive, he responds that it should still be 20 minutes. They shut the windows and then a sudden stillness arises. They stop and listen, the crowd is pushing with all of their might against the gate, and it eventually gives in, followed by the crowd. Mrs. Thornton and Fanny get upstairs and Margaret refuses to go with them.The faces of angry men are everywhere in the yard, and Margaret recognises the face of Mr. Boucher. As the crowd sees Mr. Thornton, they erupt into a beastly roar, startling even Mr. Thornton’s cool reserve. He tells Margaret that they need only to wait 5 minutes more and the soldiers will be there. Margaret calls him out for his attitude, tells him to go and face these men like a man with kindness. A dark cloud comes across his face and he goes, only asking Margaret to bar the door behind him. The men in the yard look like savage beasts; they have children at home, like Boucher, and can’t stand the thought of foreigners taking away their bread. Margaret feels like the crowd will reach its breaking point in a moment and she rushes outside, after she sees men reaching for projectiles. The men still their arms as they see this girl run out and place herself between them and their enemy. She tries to tell the men to calm themselves, but her voice dies away. Thornton moves from behind her. A man calls out asking if the Irish will be sent home and when Thornton replies that he will not send them back, the crowd explodes. Margaret tries to shield Thornton from the men’s incoming projectiles, but he shakes her off. The first misses, the second flings a stone towards their mark hitting instead, Margaret causing Thornton to react. The men are silent while he speaks, watching the blood trickle down Margaret’s head. It seems to knock sense into the men, and they start to back away. Mr. Thornton walks into the crowd, calling on the men to attack him if they are not cowards, but they leave, defeated. Thornton rushes to Margaret and carries her into the house. He calls for his mother to take care of her and he goes to check on his Irish workers. Mrs. Thornton goes to get a doctor...SEO stuff I don't want to do. Elizabeth Gaskell's classic, "North and South" sees Margaret Hale's live uprooted as her family moves to the north of England. Initially disgusted by the ugliness of the industrial town of Milton, Margaret develops a strong sense of social justice after seeing the poverty and suffering of local mill workers.
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A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Book 2 chapter 1 "Five Years Later" narrated by Isaac Birchall Subscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on KO-FI and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinPodcast Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/13b1qP3WhCWxam9yc49vIF?si=4e279ef4f5f143a0Summary: 1780. Tellson’s Bank in London prides itself on being “very small, very dark, very ugly, very incommodious.” The partners believe that if it were more welcoming then it would lose its status as a respectable business. It’s located at Temple Bar, where the heads of executed criminals were displayed until very recently. Jerry Cruncher, the bank’s runner awakens in his apartment, in a dodgy part of London. He begins his day by yelling at his wife, the conversation culminating with him throwing a muddy boot at her. Around 9, he and his son camp outside the bank to await instructions. The door opens and a man calls for a Porter, at which Jerry heads off to do the job, leaving his son alone. SEO stuff I don't want to do. Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities is one of the most sold books on the planet with over 200 million copies having been sold world wide. It is the most famous of Dickens' works and set in the bloody and violent French revolution. It blends the great history of the French revolution with the tale of a family. Raising enduring themes of imprisonment, injustice, social anarchy, resurrection, and the renunciation that fosters renewal, there is a reason that this novel has stood the test of time and has been enjoyed by readers all across the globe in many different languages.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Book 1 chapter 6 "The Shoemaker" narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on KO-FI and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinPodcast Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/13b1qP3WhCWxam9yc49vIF?si=4e279ef4f5f143a0Summary:Manette talks with a very distant and quiet voice, as if it hasn’t been used for many years. He says that he is making a ladies’ shoe in the modern fashion after a template he had held. When asked his name he responds, “One Hundred and Five, North Tower.” Lucie makes her way over to him and noticing her hair, Manette opens up a knotted rag that wears around his neck and takes out some strands of hair.At first, he believes Lucie to his wife but claims that would be impossible as she is too young. Lucie then implores her father to weep for her if her voice or her hair recalls a loved one to him. She hints to him that a home far away awaits him, and that his “agony is over.” Manette collapses after this emotional event, and Lucie urges Lorry to take them back to England as fast as possible. At first, he is hesitant, but he soon agrees and heads off to arrange the affairs with Mr. Defarge. Later, they usher Mr. Manette down the stairs and into a coach and they sent off for England. SEO stuff I don't want to do. Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities is one of the most sold books on the planet with over 200 million copies having been sold world wide. It is the most famous of Dickens' works and set in the bloody and violent French revolution. It blends the great history of the French revolution with the tale of a family. Raising enduring themes of imprisonment, injustice, social anarchy, resurrection, and the renunciation that fosters renewal, there is a reason that this novel has stood the test of time and has been enjoyed by readers all across the globe in many different languages.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Book 1 chapter 5 "The Wine-shop" narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on KO-FI and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinPodcast Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/13b1qP3WhCWxam9yc49vIF?si=4e279ef4f5f143a0Summary:The setting moves to Paris. In a street, a wine cask falls to the street and breaks, flooding it with wine, and wish people who rush to drink as much as they can. Women take off their scarves and dip it in the wine, men cup their hands to drink, and even children get their fill. The wine shop is owned by Monsieur Defarge, a man of around 30. His wife, Mrs. Defarge sits behind the counter and watches everything that goes on around her. She signals to her husband to announce the presence of an older man and a young lady. Defarge looks over the strangers (Lorry and Lucie) and pretends not to notice them as he goes to speak to some familiar faces. They all refer to each other as Jaques as a way to identify each other as revolutionaries. Defarge soon sends the men out and then Lorry goes to see the wine shop owner. They converse for a few seconds and then Defarge guides Lorry and Lucie into the main building and up the stairs. They come to a dirty landing where the three men from before are gathered, Defarge tells them to go away and is accosted by Lorry for letting the man get looked at like an animal in a zoo. Defarge responds that he trusts the men and the look of what’s behind the door will do them well. Defarge then opens the door to reveal a white-haired man making shoes in a very dark room.SEO stuff I don't want to do. Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities is one of the most sold books on the planet with over 200 million copies having been sold world wide. It is the most famous of Dickens' works and set in the bloody and violent French revolution. It blends the great history of the French revolution with the tale of a family. Raising enduring themes of imprisonment, injustice, social anarchy, resurrection, and the renunciation that fosters renewal, there is a reason that this novel has stood the test of time and has been enjoyed by readers all across the globe in many different languages.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Book 1 chapter 4 "The Preparation" narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on KO-FI and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinPodcast Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/13b1qP3WhCWxam9yc49vIF?si=4e279ef4f5f143a0Summary:The next morning, Lorry arrives in Dover and gets out of the mail coach at the Royal George Hotel. After changing out of his travel clothes he transforms himself into his usual sixty-year-old businessman self. That afternoon, a waiter announces the arrival of Lucie Manette and says that the girl is ready to meet Mr. Lorry. Lorry meets the girl in her room and she says that she had word from the bank that some intelligence had been made respecting the small estate of her father – long presumed dead. After restating his duties as a businessman, Lorry tells miss Manette that the real reason she has been summoned to Paris is because her father has been found alive and has been taken to an old servant. Lucie is to go and restore her father to his health, and Mr. Lorry is to go and identify the man. Lucie then goes into shock, and he servant, Miss Pross rushes in to save her charge.SEO stuff I don't want to do. Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities is one of the most sold books on the planet with over 200 million copies having been sold world wide. It is the most famous of Dickens' works and set in the bloody and violent French revolution. It blends the great history of the French revolution with the tale of a family. Raising enduring themes of imprisonment, injustice, social anarchy, resurrection, and the renunciation that fosters renewal, there is a reason that this novel has stood the test of time and has been enjoyed by readers all across the globe in many different languages.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Book 1 chapter 3 "The Night Shadows" narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on KO-FI and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinPodcast Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/13b1qP3WhCWxam9yc49vIF?si=4e279ef4f5f143a0Summary:The narrator thinks about the secrets and mysteries that each human is to the every other. Lorry, as he rides in the mail coach with the two strangers, dozes in and out of sleep. His dreams are of the inner workings of Tellson’s Bank. But the shadows passing through the coach play tricks on him, and he dreams that he is digging someone out of a grave. He converses with this spectre and learns that the man has been buried alive for nearly 18 years. Lorry tells the spectre that he has been recalled to life and asks it if it wishes to live. He also asks “shall I show her to you? Will you come and see her?” The ghost has different answers to these questions all night, sometimes claiming that he would die if he were to see this woman, and at other times he pleads to see her immediately; at other times he weeps.SEO stuff I don't want to do. Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities is one of the most sold books on the planet with over 200 million copies having been sold world wide. It is the most famous of Dickens' works and set in the bloody and violent French revolution. It blends the great history of the French revolution with the tale of a family. Raising enduring themes of imprisonment, injustice, social anarchy, resurrection, and the renunciation that fosters renewal, there is a reason that this novel has stood the test of time and has been enjoyed by readers all across the globe in many different languages.