The Woman in White Paperback – January 1, 2007

This is another of those books that I've long intended to read but somehow never got around to. My resolution for 2017 is to rectify some of that neglect.The Woman in White is in the grand tradition of the densely plotted Victorian novel. It is, in fact, downright Dickensian or Jamesian in its wordiness. Modern readers who have not been exposed to the circuitous descriptions and verbiage of such writers may falter over its 600+ pages. But lovers of the language may find themselves drooling, as I did, over its skillful use.The story starts with a young drawing master, Walter Hartwright, encountering a mysterious woman dressed all in white as he walks along a moonlit London road. The woman is in distress and asks for directions which Walter gives her and sends her on her way. Soon after, he hears a policeman asking if anyone has seen the woman, who, he says, has escaped from an asylum. Walter keeps quiet and the policeman's search is unsuccessful.Walter has been engaged to teach drawing to two young ladies at Limmeridge House in Cumberland; Laura Fairlie, fair, gentle, pretty, guileless orphan whose guardian is her uncle, the hypochondriac/narcissist Frederick Fairlie, and Marian Halcombe, Laura's elder half-sister and companion, dark, strong-willed, intelligent and resourceful.Over the next few months, Walter and Laura fall in love, but Laura has already been promised (by her deceased father) to Sir Percival Glyde, Baronet, and she is determined to honor that commitment. Marian, understanding the impossible situation, advises Walter to leave the country to get over Laura. With the help of a friend, he secures a position with an archaeological expedition headed to South America.Laura, much to her sorrow, marries Glyde. It is clear from the beginning that Glyde is a villain, although it isn't certain at first just what his villainy entails.When the honeymooners return from a trip to Italy, they have Count and Countess Fosco in tow. Count Fosco is Glyde's closest friend and his wife - surprise, surprise! - is Laura's aunt, who was estranged from the family over the matter of a bequest.It soon becomes clear that both Glyde and Fosco are "embarrassed" financially and their only hope of redeeming themselves is to call on Laura for a loan from her inheritance. Her husband attempts to pressure her into signing papers that would authorize the funds, but, with Marian supporting her, she refuses.How can the nefarious duo get the funds they need? Well, if Laura were dead...Collins' complicated plot over the next few hundred pages explicates very clearly the inequality in law of women and men at that time. A woman was under the control of her father or her guardian until she married and, once married, she was under the thumb of her husband. A married woman could hardly do anything without her husband's consent. She had little recourse in the courts of the time.Willie Collins was trained in the law and he understood this very well. He created a strong and empathetic female character in Marian Halcombe and yet, resourceful as she was, she had little hope of combating the villainous Glyde and Fosco without the manly assistance of Walter Hartwright. Perhaps I was particularly sensitive to this theme, having just completed reading The Bell Jar, but it seemed to me that this book could be read as a 19th century feminist treatise.Collins effectively uses the multiple narrator strategy of telling his story by offering witness statements from all of the principal characters, much as would happen in a court of law. In spite of its length, its complicated plot and its 19th century verbiage, this is a real page-turner of a book. I found it hard to put down and I could not wait to see where the twists and turns of the plot would take me next.As an early example of the mystery novel, with Walter Hartwright standing in as the everyman detective, this sets a high bar for later writers of such novels to reach. Indeed, this has been included on some lists of the greatest novels of all time, and I would not argue with that assessment.

All the contrived intrigue and interesting characters of a minor Dickens work, with little of the humor, pacing, or satisfaction, it is still a wonderful insight to the contrived plotting of Victorian literature. Fun to read for a Dickens fan and anyone interested in the era.

Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White is an excellent suspense novel written over 100 years ago. It's 650 pages, and has the relatively wordy passages indicative of that era. How then, you ask, could it be that suspenseful? My response: Read it and see! I found myself reading 200 pages a day in it, simply refusing to put it down, as I HAD to find out what happened to these characters.And speaking of characters, what about them? Victorian novels are renowned for their character development, and this one is no exception. The protagonist, Walter Hartwright--a drawing instructor--is the perfect English gentleman, sometimes maddeningly so. While he explains what is happening and the proper course of action, the villains are running around wreaking their havoc. Walter's partner in good is Marian Halcombe, the driving force of the novel. She's more decisive than Walter, more courageous, and more determined than anyone else. Think of her as Scarlett O'Hara, but without Scarlett's flaws. At one point the villain even says that as long as Marian is against him, he must work harder than ever before! The villain himself, Count Fosco, is one of the most wonderful creations in literature. Collins melds the character--a mass of contradictions--perfectly, creating the consummate villain: witty, urbane, knowledgeable, always ahead of the good guys, and seemingly able to be in two places at one time. The only weak character in the novel is Laura, around whom the plot revolves. However, even though everything hinges on her, she's not actually in the novel that much, so her lack of development is barely noticed.The novel, as other reviewers have said, requires some suspension of belief. Two unrelated women look like twins. One of them changes so much from grief that her family doesn't recognize her. People happen to be frequenlty at just the right place at the right time. However, none of this seriously detracts from the novel. The suspense is marvellous!The plot is very complex. In a very brief synopsis, Marian and Laura become the victim of an apparent perfect crime. They and Walter must find a way out of it, as a mysterious woman in white (the titular character) seems desperate to share a secret with them. Is it what they need? The novel, however, is so much more than that! As twenty narrators provide their parts in events first-hand (one picks up as the other leaves off chronologically), the suspense mounts!Bottom Line: Get this excellent suspense novel, and don't let the length or publication year deter you! The Victorian Era adds to the great characters, each of whom is so real that I made comparisons with people I actually know. The language, while somewhat stilted, is quite readable and intriguing, and in no way, deters from the suspense. You'll find yourself unable to put the book down; there's a reason it hasn't gone out of print in 150 years!