North and South is a social novel published in 1854 by English writer Elizabeth Gaskell.

With Wives and Daughters (1865) and Cranford (1853), it is one of her best-known novels and was adapted for television three times (1966, 1975 and 2004).

The later version renewed interest in the novel and attracted a wider readership.
(from wikipedia.org)

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1810 - 1865), was an English novelist, biographer, and short story writer.

Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of Victorian society, including the very poor, and are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature.
(from wikipedia.org)