North & South goes 1980s! Says it all, basically... This retelling sticks as closely to the original as possible, all the while trying to tell a feasible late 20th century story - which accounts for a number of issues the old Victorians didn't have to deal with.

The first proposal scene, the one that went so abysmally wrong, revisited... in-depth! Can there be a different outcome for our favourite couple? Credits go to Elizabeth Gaskell, Sandy Welch, and Jane Austen - I borrowed shamelessly from all of them.

One and a half years on from where my story 'Before the Dawn' ended, Margaret and John are still struggling to overcome their status as Milton pariahs. On top of it all, JT is getting drawn into the case of a stranger found dead by the river... Only an accident? - or could it be murder?

Short stories and vignettes based on Gaskell's North & South; all of them period, some canon, some AU, and most of them featuring Margaret and John―but various minor characters also make an appearance (see chapter titles for respective protagonists). None of these stories are consecutive.

A continuation based on the TV miniseries: Coming home to Milton after their very public kiss and swift engagement was never going to be simple; but little did Margaret and Mr Thornton expect their challenges to include a broken-down train, leaving them stranded on the way. Yet there's more to come—things that might derail their wedding plans...