Wilkie Collins: The Woman in White

Hi

While I was on holiday I had The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins with me to read. I did not finish it there because I didn’t have enough pages left for the flight home so I took another book with me on the plane and I finished this one at home.
It has a beautiful cover! The story itself is 702 pages and there’s 17 pages text on Wilkie Collins by Julian Symons.

 “The Woman in White famously opens with Walter Hartright's eerie encounter on a moonlit London road. Engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie, Walter is drawn into the sinister intrigues of Sir Percival Glyde and his 'charming' friend Count Fosco, who has a taste for white mice, vanilla bonbons and poison. Pursuing questions of identity and insanity along the paths and corridors of English country houses and the madhouse, The Woman in White is the first and most influential of the Victorian genre that combined Gothic horror with psychological realism.”

I really enjoyed this book.

The characters feel very much alive as the novel progresses, especially when it’s their own point of view; each character has its distinct voice. The count is amazing, I love the smart, caring Miss Halcombe and Mr. Fairlie is hilarious. Laura is a miss in my opinion; she’s boring, insipid and quite stupid to be honest. I couldn’t really see why they cared so much for her.
But Miss Halcombe and the count, how I adored them.

The pace never slackens and the tension holds throughout the novel.
The way the story is told, the narrative is fabulous. Multiple points of view, each telling his/her own story and everyone is only telling what they think to be true.
I loved the amount of details and worldbuilding that went into it. The plot is mysterious, very complex, thrilling and I had a hard time putting it down every time.
Alas, even on holiday you have to sleep.

It is a bit too convenient at times and I very much disliked Laura so it wasn’t a five star book but I did really like it.

4 STARS

Happy reading.
Helena