RUTH (1853) by Elizabeth Gaskell is a compassionate story of a young woman seduced by a gentleman. Ruth Hilton is a gently tragic Victorian heroine, the fallen woman who redeems herself by a life of charity, after she is taken in by a pastor and his family and given the veneer of respectability. But it is Ruth's own inner strength of heart, deeds, and moral standing that ultimately reaffirm her.