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Title: Cousin Phillis

Author: Elizabeth C Gaskell

Narrator: Nicola Bonn

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-17-11

Publisher: Create Digital Publishing

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Classics, British Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Elizabeth Gaskell, famed author of Cranford, is cherished for her incise social observations and portrayals of the changing nature of English life through the Industrial Revolution of the Victorian era. In Cousin Phillis, Paul Manning has only recently left home to work on the railway line for the dashing Mr Holdsworth.

Lodging with an Independent Minister on the outskirts of London, he becomes acquainted with his distant cousins, where he is delighted to meet his genial relations, and not least his cousin Phyllis. But when Phyllis falls for the charms of his more sophisticated colleague, Manning's family ties render him powerless to prevent the inevitable heartbreak that ensues.

Members Reviews:

A good little story.

I read this little novella because I heard it said that Gaskell's later works were her best. In the case of Cousin Phillis I would have to diasagree. It was a sweet little story with well drawn characters but the plot was totally predictable. It seems that in 19th century England being disappointed in love almost always led to a long and near fatal illness from which the young lady, if she survived, emerged vastly improved in temperament and virtue and went on to live a quiet, unremarkable, but socially acceptable life. In this story we are presented with a young woman who is already the height of feminine virtue and beauty but who through a very quiet and confined country life as a minister's only child is completely unacquainted with society. She is, though, in possession of a very fine mind that hungers for greater knowledge and is a great reader, educated in latin and greek. It is perhaps this dangerous combination of unworldly naiveté combined with longing after greater knowledge and understanding of the world that leads her to become infatuated with a charming, handsome, well-travelled and yet inconstant young friend of the family. The drama that ensues is exactly what is to be expected from a story of this period, though written in Mrs. Gaskell's engaging style it was well worth reading.

Critics Loved It - Abrupt Ending

I downloaded thefree Kindle versionof this ebook because I wanted to try another story by Gaskell. I've readThe Moorland Cottageand found that it ended in a strange way.

Cousin Phillis was published in parts and appeared as a serial story in The Cornhill Magazine. (per various web resources) This was the second to last title written by Gaskell before her death. Her last novel beingWives and Daughters- one of her most successful titles.

Spoiler free plot -

Paul Manning is a young man setting out on his own for the first time in the working world. His job as a railway worker takes him far from home. He is a clerk and just learning the ways of career and life. He discovers that he has distant relatives in the area, The Holmans.

The head of that household is an extremely hard working farmer and minister. I found him to be a well-drawn and interesting character. The Minister has a plain, simple wife, and a lovely daughter named Phillis. Paul spends a lot of time with this family. The story is about his relationship and interaction with them as well as with his boss, Mr. Holdsworth. It's mostly a family drama, mixed with romance, throwing in religious elements, and a lot of thought provoking sections on duty and life choices.

I hate to tell readers NOT to read a book, but I'm close to doing that.