READING TIME · ELIZABETH GASKELL · 1855

How long does it take to read North and South?

At an average reading speed, about 11 hours 40 minutes. North and South is 182,289 words long, in 52 chapters.

WORDS: 182,289
CHAPTERS: 52
READING LEVEL: About grade 6 (Flesch–Kincaid)

Reading time at different speeds

Total reading time for North and South at three reading speeds
Reader	Speed	Whole book
Unhurried	200 words a minute	15 h 10 min
Average adult reader	260 words a minute	11 h 40 min
Quick reader	320 words a minute	9 h 30 min

To finish it at a steady pace:

20 minutes a day: about 36 days
30 minutes a day: about 24 days
60 minutes a day: about 12 days

How many chapters are in North and South?

North and South has 52 chapters. The longest is Chapter 46 (7,509 words, 29 min); the shortest is Chapter 45 (1,087 words, 4 min). The average chapter takes 13 min.

Reading times below are at 260 words a minute.

Words and reading time for each chapter of North and South
Chapter	Words	Reading time	Practice in Parlor
Chapter 1	4,185	16 min	Check it →
Chapter 2	3,202	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 3	3,890	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 4	3,982	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 5	4,809	18 min	Check it →
Chapter 6	2,439	9 min	Check it →
Chapter 7	3,145	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 8	3,866	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 9	1,553	6 min	Check it →
Chapter 10	3,414	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 11	3,023	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 12	2,251	9 min	Check it →
Chapter 13	2,618	10 min	Check it →
Chapter 14	2,150	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 15	6,257	24 min	Check it →
Chapter 16	2,971	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 17	3,186	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 18	3,117	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 19	4,505	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 20	3,743	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 21	2,975	11 min	Check it →
Chapter 22	5,098	20 min	Check it →
Chapter 23	2,632	10 min	Check it →
Chapter 24	2,114	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 25	4,173	16 min	Check it →
Chapter 26	2,113	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 27	2,448	9 min	Check it →
Chapter 28	6,959	27 min	Check it →
Chapter 29	2,420	9 min	Check it →
Chapter 30	4,921	19 min	Check it →
Chapter 31	4,105	16 min	Check it →
Chapter 32	1,968	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 33	2,100	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 34	1,956	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 35	6,025	23 min	Check it →
Chapter 36	4,310	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 37	4,059	16 min	Check it →
Chapter 38	5,209	20 min	Check it →
Chapter 39	3,593	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 40	5,274	20 min	Check it →
Chapter 41	4,691	18 min	Check it →
Chapter 42	4,369	17 min	Check it →
Chapter 43	3,666	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 44	4,080	16 min	Check it →
Chapter 45	1,087	4 min	Check it →
Chapter 46	7,509	29 min	Check it →
Chapter 47	2,114	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 48	1,963	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 49	2,316	9 min	Check it →
Chapter 50	3,732	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 51	2,676	10 min	Check it →
Chapter 52	1,328	5 min	Check it →

READING IT FOR CLASS?

Knowing how long it takes is one thing. Understanding it is another.

Parlor Study is a reading comprehension companion. Read North and South one chapter at a time, then make sure you understood it.

Read a chapter. The full Project Gutenberg text, with highlights, notes and read-aloud.
Explain it in your own words. Challenge me asks about the main idea, what the text suggests without saying, and the turn the chapter hinges on, then checks your answer against the text.
Talk it through, then come back. Discuss stays within the chapters you have reached, so it won’t give away what comes next, and Revisit brings your ideas back later.

Open North and South in Parlor →How Parlor practices reading comprehension

Parlor Study is a web preview for ages 13 and up, available by invitation. Request an invitation. AI feedback can make mistakes; check it against the text.

How these numbers were worked out

Words are counted in North and South, Project Gutenberg eBook #4276, the edition Parlor opens, divided into chapters exactly as Parlor shows them. Project Gutenberg’s licence and notes are left out. Other editions may differ slightly.

Reading speeds follow Marc Brysbaert’s review of 190 studies, which found that adults read English silently at about 260 words a minute for fiction and 238 for non-fiction (Journal of Memory and Language, 2019). Older and more difficult books often take longer than their word count suggests.

The reading level is the Flesch–Kincaid grade, worked out from average sentence length (15.2 words) and word length. It measures how long the sentences and words are, not how hard the ideas are.

Similar length

Uncle Tom's Cabin 11 h 40 min
Great Expectations 11 h 55 min
Ivanhoe 11 h 55 min
Jane Eyre 11 h 55 min

Also by Elizabeth Gaskell

Cranford 4 h 35 min

All reading times →