* SpiritualSuccessor: To Gaskell's first novel, ''Literature/MaryBarton''. Both novels are about life in a manufacturing town and both feature trade unions and strikes.
* TheWoobie:
** Margaret. Before the story starts, her brother has to leave England or be hanged. During the story, she loses both her parents and her best friend.
** ''All'' of the mill workers, which was sadly TruthInTelevision for the most part at the time. Bessie is dying of a lung disease she got in one of the mills, Mr. Boucher can't support his family and becomes more and more unstable, eventually [[spoiler: committing suicide]], Nicholas loses his daughter and sees the organisation he had such high hopes for disintegrate...
** Mr. Thornton. His father committed suicide, leaving him, his mother and his sister in debt. The woman he loves rejects his proposal, and he later sees her [[NotWhatItLooksLike with another man late at night]]. And then he loses the mill he worked so hard to build.
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