COUSIN PHYLLIS, an 1864 novella, is considered one of Elizabeth Gaskell's finest short works. Underrated as a writer after her untimely death until the feminist movement brought her to prominence in the 1970s, Gaskell wrote powerful and warmly appealing stories about women and their relationship to society, including not only marriage and motherhood but work and achievement. Many of her short stories demonstrate the destructive effects of poverty and class prejudice on a lively, intelligent spirit.