Cousin Phillis

by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

"Cousin Phillis" by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell is a novella published between 1863 and 1864. Nineteen-year-old Paul Manning moves to the country and befriends his mother's family, including his cousin Phillis Holman, a young woman standing at the threshold of adulthood. Set in the 1840s, this story explores social change in an isolated rural community through uncomplicated events told with masterful development. Critics consider it Gaskell's greatest achievement in short fiction and a fitting prelude to her acclaimed final novel.