Cousin Phillis is a lovely little novella about a young man's coming of age and his growing friendship with his cousin Phillis who lives on a farm in Northern England and his boss Holdsworth who is an engineer.
Gaskell is a wonderful painter of words and with deft strokes of her brush is able to impart to a contemporary reader what life in pastoral England in the mid-nineteenth century was like.
She is able to convey in such a short book what life on a farm is like but also what life is like for the servants, the clergy, the upper classes and the professionals. She paints sympathetic portraits of all her characters and with compassion is able to see the world through their eyes which is mitigated by class, upbringing, gender, education and spiritual leanings.
Against this lovely backdrop is the development of a quasi love triangle among young Paul, his cousin Phillis and the intelligent roguish Holdsworth. There are elements of restrained homosexual desire, heterosexual passions and the fine lines between platonic and romantic love. All this and there is not one passionate kiss among any of the trio.
Characters
Paul Manning (the narrator, Phillis's cousin)
Mr Manning (Paul's father)
Mr Edward Holdsworth
Mr Holman (independent church minister)
Mrs Holman
Miss Phillis Holman
Mr Ellison (Mr Manning's business partner)
Miss Lucille Ventadur (at last Mr Holdsworth's wife)
Betty (the servant at Holman house)
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