From the Ashes

by TRavine

She is a young, independent woman with great ideals, who was torn from her beautiful home in the south, to relocate to a grimy, industrial town. He is a hardened mill master, who is haunted by a dark past. After their disastrous first encounter leaves her in shock and disgust, what will it take for them to overcome their differences and see each other for who they truly are?

1. Introduction

Introduction

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Hello, dear readers,

this is the first fanfiction I have ever dared to share with anyone. I am not a native English speaker, so writing this was a bit of a challenge. I have done my best, so please bear with me.

I got into the BBC mini-series a few months ago and this idea kind of got stuck in my head.

There is a lot of discussion going on about the introduction of John Thornton in the series. Some people like it, while others dislike the depiction of violence.

Personally, having not read the book before watching (I have read it since, in case you are wondering), and thus having no idea how the story was going to progress further, I was quite taken by the scene.

However, as the series had to head back to the original material quickly, I felt like I was missing two things:

Firstly, a proper explanation as to why a man like Thornton, who, for the rest of the series, seems rather reasonable and collected, would lash out like that. (Yes, an explanation was given, but in my opinion, it was too brief and lacked a bit of substance.)

And secondly, I felt like Margaret, after her complete shock at his conduct with Stevens, forgave him a bit too easily, as the story progressed.

These two thoughts were basically the foundation on which this story was built.

I tried to not stray too far from the original plot, so there will be familiar themes and quotes (mostly from the series, but also some from the book), which are marked in italics.

You might also like to know that this fic is completed, so you need not worry about it ending in the middle of the story for some reason.

All 26 chapters are sitting on my hard drive, each waiting patiently for its final editing touches and I will do my best to edit and upload regularly.

And just to get this out of the way: This is a slow-burn romance with a HEA! (I promise!)

Having said that, I do have to issue a few warnings:

There is some serious angst going on in this story, (it seems that I have found great pleasure in systematically ruining John Thornton's life), so if you have any issues with that, please tread carefully.

There is some serious smut in later chapters, also descriptive mention of masturbation. I'm also afraid this story contains basically any other topic that may be considered triggering:

It touches on an array of mental health issues, including depression, PTSD, (mild) self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and suicide. There are also mild references to alcohol consumption and mention of deadly disease.

Explicit warnings will be issued at the beginning of each respective chapter.

We will have to deal with some character deaths.

In addition to all of Mrs. Gaskell's obvious casualties, I have killed off both Mrs. Thornton and Fanny sometime before the beginning of the actual story for…well reasons ?

Having said all of this, I do not wish to detain you any longer. I hope you enjoy this story.

Any feedback is very much appreciated, but please keep it respectful.

Tom