“A beautifully written, highly seductive debut….The chemistry between Branwell and Lydia positively crackles on the page….Masterful storytelling which is sure to delight fans of the Brontës and of historical fiction.” –Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter This dazzling debut novel for fans of Mrs. Poe and Longbourn explores the scandalous historical love affair between Branwell Brontë and Lydia Robinson, giving voice to the woman who allegedly corrupted her son’s innocent tutor and brought down the entire Brontë family. Yorkshire, 1843: Lydia Robinson—mistress of Thorp Green Hall—has lost her precious young daughter and her mother within the same year. She returns to her bleak home, grief-stricken and unmoored. With her teenage daughters rebelling, her testy mother-in-law scrutinizing her every move, and her marriage grown cold, Lydia is restless and yearning for something more. All of that changes with the arrival of her son’s tutor, Branwell Brontë, brother of her daughters’ governess, Miss Anne Brontë and those other writerly sisters, Charlotte and Emily. Branwell has his own demons to contend with—including living up to the ideals of his intelligent family—but his presence is a breath of fresh air for Lydia. Handsome, passionate, and uninhibited by social conventions, he’s also twenty-five to her forty-three. A love of poetry, music, and theatre bring mistress and tutor together, and Branwell’s colorful tales of his sisters’ elaborate play-acting and made-up worlds form the backdrop for seduction. But Lydia’s new taste of passion comes with consequences. As Branwell’s inner turmoil rises to the surface, his behavior grows erratic and dangerous, and whispers of their passionate relationship spout from her servants’ lips, reaching all three protective Brontë sisters. Soon, it falls on Lydia to save not just her reputation, but her way of life, before those clever girls reveal all her secrets in their novels. Unfortunately, she might be too late. Meticulously researched and deliciously told, Brontë’s Mistress is a captivating reimagining of the scandalous affair that has divided Brontë enthusiasts for generations and an illuminating portrait of a courageous, sharp-witted woman who fights to emerge with her dignity intact.

When 19-year-old Paul Manning moves to the countryside, his cousin Phillis is thrown into turmoil and insecurity as she falls for the charms of Paul’s sophisticated friend. Paul is dismayed when he discovers that he must leave London and stay with his religious uncle in the country. But when he arrives, he discovers his relatives are far from pious bores - especially his beautiful cousin Phyllis. However, when Phyllis falls for the charms of Paul's dashing friend, he fears for his cousin's reputation. This haunting story is a masterful piece of Victorian fiction about heartbreak and tragedy and was adapted for a BBC TV series in 1982. A leading figure in Victorian literature, Gaskell’s work continues to resonate with readers to this day. Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) was an English novelist, biographer, and short story writer, renowned for her earnest and detailed descriptions of Victorian society. Among her most famous novels are ‘North and South’, ‘Mary Barton’, and ‘Wives and Daughters’. Her work has been adapted for film and TV on numerous occasions, including the BBC TV drama ‘Cranford’, starring Dame Judi Dench. Gaskell also wrote ‘The Life of Charlotte Brontë’ (1857), which was the first-ever biography of the famous English writer, Charlotte Brontë.

Purchase one of 1st World Library's Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - - It is a great thing for a lad when he is first turned into the independence of lodgings. I do not think I ever was so satisfied and proud in my life as when, at seventeen, I sate down in a little three-cornered room above a pastry-cook's shop in the county town of Eltham. My father had left me that afternoon, after delivering himself of a few plain precepts, strongly expressed, for my guidance in the new course of life on which I was entering. I was to be a clerk under the engineer who had undertaken to make the little branch line from Eltham to Hornby. My father had got me this situation, which was in a position rather above his own in life; or perhaps I should say, above the station in which he was born and bred; for he was raising himself every year in men's consideration and respect. He was a mechanic by trade, but he had some inventive genius, and a great deal of perseverance, and had devised several valuable improvements in railway machinery. He did not do this for profit, though, as was reasonable, what came in the natural course of things was acceptable; he worked out his ideas, because, as he said, 'until he could put them into shape, they plagued him by night and by day.' But this is enough about my dear father; it is a good thing for a country where there are many like him. He was a sturdy Independent by descent and conviction; and this it was, I believe, which made him place me in the lodgings at the pastry-cook's.

Cousin Phillis is novel by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. A 19-year-old Paul Manning moves to the country and befriends his mother's family and his cousin Phillis, who is confused by her own placement at the edge of adolescence.

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell was an English novelist, biographer, and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many strata of Victorian society, including the very poor, and are of interest to social historians as well as lovers of literature. Cousin Phillis is a novel about 19-year-old Paul Manning, who moves to the country and befriends his mother's family and his cousin Phillis Holman. This novel is also recognized as a fitting prelude for Gaskell's final and most widely acclaimed novel, Wives and Daughters.