Wilkie Collins (1824–1889)

An early example of the detective novel, Wilkie Collins' The Woman In White is long, complex, exquisitely written; a delicious read. This tale of conspiracy, madness, villainy, and mistaken identity is told from the perspectives of a number of the principal actors, a diversity of voices that heightens the novel's variety and appeal.

Collins creates numerous intriguing characters, most of whose voices we hear during the unfolding of the intricate plot. Drawing-master Walter Hartright, one of the prime movers in the book, is the least interesting. He is...well, not dull...but regular. But he is the main character who drives the resolution of the mystery, and as events unfold and circumstances become more dire, he evinces a dogged determination, a fierce loyalty and tenacity.

My favorite characters, beautifully rendered by Collins, are hypochondriac Mr. Fairlie; corpulent Italian Count Fosco with his air of pompous superiority and his cage of little white mice; and the stalwart, dutiful, Marian with her acute intellect and her deep sisterly devotion.

There is one section of The Woman In White that was a bit of a drag: In a long interview between Hartright and a lawyer, novelist Collins seems to be writing himself out of some cul-de-sacs into which his plot has steered him. This section serves to clarify some matters, but also, probably inadvertently, to point out that the conspiracy plot was unnecessarily convoluted and could've been handled in a more straightforward fashion. But then, near the end of the novel, one of the villains explains why he handled things the way he did, following his ethical code, and for me at least that was a gratifying and sufficient explanation.

As expected, this novel from 1860 contains a lot of letters, a lot of conversations, and for the most part they are fascinating. There are a number of active scenes as well, my favorite being a hot one in a church and its adjacent graveyard. There's spies and an asylum, and a somewhat ghostly meeting at a crossroads. The Woman In White is filled with delectable material, an engaging and satisfying reading experience.… (lisätietoja)

This is one of Collins's less well known novels, but is still a good example of his solid grasp of the essentials of a sensationalist mystery novel. The mystery essentially revolves around the identity of the father of Mary ("Madonna") Grice, a deaf and dumb child of around 10 years old, a man who abandoned Mary's mother, the young woman he had made pregnant. Different characters have different levels of knowledge about the truth of Mary's origins, so there is more mystery for most of the characters than there often is for the reader. I liked the interplay between the characters though and enjoyed this, albeit in a somewhat more low key way than Collins's greater works. The author's depiction of Mary as a disabled child who is somewhat more than just a passive figure was seemingly quite unusual for the time, and he apparently researched it quite well. A good read.… (lisätietoja)