A review by wealhtheow
Cousin Phillis by Elizabeth Gaskell

2.0

An older man recounts an instance in his youth when he became fast friends with a local pious family. But in introducing them to his charming boss, he inadvertently causes teenaged Phillis romantic agony. Like Gaskell's other work, this is a slow-paced tale focused on the minutia of a small community's daily lives and feelings. Unlike the other work I've read by her, this has a section in which a woman swoons after hearing her crush has gotten married, and then nearly dies of brain fever (whatever that might be) and stays near death for months. It was so melodramatic and inexplicable to me that it tainted my enjoyment of the earlier section of the novel.