Introduction:The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Review
I once read that The Woman in White (Penguin Classics) by Wilkie Collins is believed to be the first mystery book. Published in 1860, The Woman in White is a dramatic story and Collins bases some of it off a criminal case. In Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism,
“The exact source, which seemingly has not been pointed out, was the celebrated case of Madame de Douhault, which Collins found discussed fully in Maurice Méjan’s Recueil des Causes Celebres.”
Treachery, mental illness, abduction, false identity, murder, and family secrets are a part of the story. Though I enjoyed reading The Woman in White, at 500 pages, I think that it was 150 pages too long. There are many narrators in the story, and in my opinion, some of the characters used to tell the story shouldn’t have been chosen, and in fact if those sections were deleted, they wouldn’t compromise the integrity of the plot. The way that Wilkie Collins uses narration is innovative.
Have you read?
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan, Book Review
One of the main character and narrator, Walter Hartright is an artist who makes a living from teaching and selling his artworks. His father was also an artist. Things are not going very well for Walter because he hasn’t been able to secure a decent contract. His friend, Professor Pesca, an Italian whom he saved from drowning, learns of an opportunity for Walter, and he is delighted because that is a way to start paying off the debt to his friend.
Although it’s a great opportunity, Walter isn’t excited about it. He raises a series of objections which his mother, sister, and Profressor Pesca address. Now he feels like he has no choice but to pursue the opportunity. He sends off all the required information to his potential client Mr Fairlie, and when he doesn’t hear from him, Walter is happy because he thinks that he is not selected, but very shortly after that he gets a letter of acceptance.
Walter starts getting his things together, and spends the night before he leaves with his mother and sister. Very late at night, after midnight, he has a bizarre encounter with a woman dressed in white. Her mannerisms and the way she speaks are very odd, and she is asking how she can get to London. During the conversation she mentions going to a school in Limmeridge, when she was a child. She also talks about the Fairlies, and that’s where Walter is going. He tells that to the woman in white. After he gets her into a cab, he learns that she has escaped from a private asylum.
The next day he leaves for Limmeridge, and he misses one of his connections, and arrives very late, after the family has gone to bed. One of the servants gives him his supper, shows him to his quarters, and lets him know that breakfast is at 9:00 am.
The following morning he meets Marian Halcombe one of the two sisters he is teaching how to paint. Marian is very intelligent and has masculine features and mannerisms. Marian’s half-sister, Laura Fairlie is delicate and beautiful. You immediately like both sisters when you meet them because Marian is a take-charge young woman and Laura is genuinely a very nice person. Walter’s client is however a different matter. Mr Fairlie has a physical disability and spends most of his days in bed or in his wheelchair. He is a selfish, and manipulative person.
When Walter first meets Marian, he tells her about his encounter with the woman in white, and she promises to get to the bottom of things by going through her deceased mother’s letters. True to her word, we learn that the woman in white is Anne Catherick, and we learn why she is dressed in white. As the story unfolds, we get to know the main characters and of course Walter starts to fall in love with Laura.
Usually he is very careful and keeps a distance from his students, and that’s why he has built such a solid reputation. The original contract is for four months, but after three months things are awkward between Walter and Laura. Marian suggests to him that he should leave, but emphasizes that it is not a class issue why the relationship is doomed, but that Laura is betrothed to Sir Percival Glyde.
What makes the situation difficult for Laura is that she promised her father on his deathbed that she would marry Percival. Before Walter returns to London, Laura gets a letter warning her against marrying Percival. Walter decides to investigate and finds out that the person who sent the letter is the woman in white, Anne Catherick. He talks to her in the cemetery where Marian’s and Laura’s mother is buried.
Once again Anne does the disappearing act. Walter leaves shortly after for London. Marian and the family’s solicitor decide to confront Percival even though he is held in high esteem. Percival talks a good talk, and is very accommodating, and he appears to be too good to be true. But the reader will get a sense that there is something very off with him.
The story takes off and not surprisingly the reader learns that Sir Percival is broke and desperately needs Laura’s money. They get married and they go overseas for their honeymoon and we are introduced to Count Fosco and his wife who is related to the Fairlies. The Count is someone to be feared, and he is evil, however he admires Marian because she is so smart.
In trying to find and capture the woman in white, who Sir Percival committed to the private asylum years ago with her mother’s consent, he has men watching Walter in London because they think he will lead them to Anne. Walter’s life is falling apart because he cares for Laura, and he suspects that he is being watched. With Marian’s help he gets a job in South America.
Before Laura marries Sir Percival, she tells him that she is in love with another man, and will never love anyone else. Because of her promise to her father on his deathbed to marry him she will go through with it. Laura is naïve enough to think that Sir Percival will set her free, but he doesn’t, he presents himself as being noble, but the reader knows that he has to go through with the marriage because he and his friend the Count both need ready cash which he can access on his marriage to Laura.
There are lots of twist and turns in the story with some great red herrings, and it was difficult to guess what secret Percival wants to stay hidden, that he is willing to kill for. In times of crisis we learn who our friends are, and Walter is a true friend, he helps both Marian and Laura, and places himself in dangerous situations. Anne Catherick dies, and they have Laura committed to the private asylum where Anne had been for over a decade. Anne and Laura resemble each other, and we learn that they are half-sisters.
Laura escapes the asylum, but the experience breaks her spirit. Marian and Walter nurse her back to health, and they are in hiding. Laura has lost her wealth and status because Sir Percival and Count Fosco carefully orchestrated events and capitalized on Anne’s death, producing a death certificate. Despite the length of The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, the book is worth the read, and if you love to solve problems, you will love the book even more when you try to find out Sir Percival’s secret and solve the other mysteries in the book.
Final Thoughts: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
I recommend The Woman in White (Penguin Classics)
by Wilkie Collins. Some people may think that reading the classics is a waste of time, but that has not been my experience.
The Woman in WhiteThe Moonstone (Penguin Classics)
Wilkie Collins: The Complete Novels
Armadale (Penguin Classics)
The Haunted Hotel: A Mystery of Modern Venice
The Two Destinies
Man and Wife (Oxford World's Classics)
Jezebel's Daughter (Oxford World's Classics)
The Law and the Lady (Penguin Classics)
The Dead Secret (Oxford World's Classics)
A Rogue's Life (Dover Thrift Editions)
