I can't even recall how many times I've tried to read this book, but I always lose interest long about the time Percival appears on the scene. ( )

3.5

A nice little(?) novel, if a bit predictable - but this is to no fault of its own, and there are definitely some veils that need lifting. In fact, this is considered by many to have coined the mystery genre, along with Moonstone - another work by the same author.

Although the story is quite gripping, it loses some of its hold around halfway through when the murder of "Lady Glyde" is committed. It's from that point that I started to have issues with some elements of the story, and also with the relationship between Walter and Laura. The fact is that Laura is rather a shallow character, and has very little development within the story. This is odd in itself, partly because the book's strength is definitely mostly in its characters (The incredibly frail and selfish Mr Fairlie, the ugly, yet intelligent Marian, the devilish, charming and cunning Italian Count Fosco...) And partly because Laura is the very character in which the entire plot centres around (well, her and Anne Catherick). The fact is that her developing romance with Walter is just not very believable to begin with, and then once they are again reunited they spend hardly any time with each other, and both Walter and Marion treat Laura as if she is a child, constantly keeping her in the dark. There is no degree of honesty within the relationship, and yet it isn't long before the two get happily married - and at a strangely inappropriate time when Laura's husband has literally just been pronounced dead, and both her and Walter are living under false names. This is mostly odd because Walter is on the verge of solving the whole mystery and clearing Laura's name, and may as well wait a little bit longer and have a real marriage in public.

The other issue I had was the element of espionage that suddenly gets dropped in at the last minute. It's not a terrible addition, but it really isn't very believable. It isn't at all subtle in its introduction; Walter just seems to suddenly have the idea that the count might in fact actually be a spy. This idea appears to occur to him completely out of the blue, without any real basis other than the fact that the Count is Italian and not British. Then, purely on the basis that his friend is also Italian, and once vaguely mentioned leaving his country for "political reasons", assumes that the two must have some connection - and assumes right! To take matters further, Count Fosco isn't only a spy, but him and Walter's Italian friend both happen to belong to the same secret society that go by the startlingly original name of "the brotherhood". That's some hunch!

So it's a bit flawed and lengthy, but it is supposedly the first-ever mystery novel! And if you're like me and enjoy reading significant works of fiction, then it's definitely worth a read and there's plenty of enjoyment to be had.

Sidenote: in my opinion, a similar and much better example of a classic Victorian mystery/Gothic/romance novel is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. If you haven't heard of it, I highly recommend you obtain a copy! ( )

audio books
www.naxosaudiobooks.com download

I am late in getting around to reading anything by Wilkie Collins. Published originally in serial form 1859/60 this strikes me as being quintessentially a Victorian novel. Wordy of course, slow moving, atmospheric in describing a world that has largely vanished: pre-motor car, servants, train timetables, letter writing, human messenger services and a rigid class system. The narrative has been painstakingly put together in an epistolary format as the mystery slowly unfolds. I cannot add much to the hundreds of reviews of this novel, but my first impression of Collins as a Victorian novelist is that he is not amongst the greatest authors of that era, but this is a minor quibble in what is a thoroughly entertaining story. 4.5 stars. ( )

When Charles Dickens founded the journal All Year Round, he led the first issue with A Tale of Two Cities. The magazine was a two-column, unillustrated affair designed for those who read a magazine from cover to cover like a book. When A Tale of Two Cities ended on Nov. 26, 1859, the first installment of A Woman in White by Wilkie Collins began without minimal fanfare on the same page. The Collins novel ran in 40 weekly installments and was published in book form just before the last installment—for a reader anxious to read the end. The first edition sold out in one day. It does not have as many memorable lines as A Tale of Two Cities, but it provoked as much discussion around Victorian dinner tables.
It is a defining example of the Sensation Novel—a genre that combines elements of Gothic fiction, melodrama, sentimental domestic drama, and topical crime narrative. The plotting is complex, employing multiple narrative points of view. Its structure reminded me of the House of Representatives presentation in the January 6 Capitol riot investigation. The Woman in White has some notable characters—especially Marian Halcombe, who received marriage proposals from readers hoping she was drawn from life.
Collins tells the story clearly, without many literary flourishes, but it still chills. It has inspired a surprising number of movies, TV series, radio dramas, and even a musical by Andrew Lloyd Weber. Its themes involving gender performance, identity theft, and social class still resonate. Victorian England was what W. H. Auden called the twentieth century--an “age of anxiety.” Nothing was as stable as it seemed. In Collins’ novel, every household has secrets that would shock its neighbors. Everyone’s nerves are frayed. Incurable illnesses threaten. Everyone lies.
No wonder we still read it—still a strong four stars. ( )