What one reviewer at amazon said about Ruth:
I just finished reading Ruth last night. I could never seem to find it anywhere before, but I did and I'm glad, having now read all of Mrs Gaskells novels. Before I started reading I had a look over the chapter titles and after reading the first few chapters I had an idea of what would happen. There is a chapter called 'Nursing Mr Bellingham' and I began to suspect the story would be simialr to that of 'Sylvia's Lovers'. Mr Bellingham would have some proper excuse (being sick maybe?), then Ruth would meet up with him again after years of seperation. He would die, and then she. Of course I was wrong. We've had single motherhood in the 19th century before, with Adam Bede and Tess of the D'Urbervilles, but in neither of these cases did we see the children surviving. Although Ruth is hidden behind a widow's identity we know how people would disown her if her secret was revealed. And when it is we see the hypocrisy of those condemning her. And Mr Donne disappears without any of our sympathy.
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