35th out of 35 books
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32 voters
The Dead Secret
Having previously tried my hand at short serial stories (collected and reprinted in _After Dark, _ and _The Queen of Hearts), _ I ventured on my first attempt, in this book, to produce a sustained work of fiction, intended for periodical publication during many successive weeks. The experiment proved successful both in this country and in America. Two of the characters whi...more
Hardcover, 340 pages
Published
February 1st 2004
by Wildside Press
(first published 1856)
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I learned that I love Wilkie Collins. I think I may have liked The Woman in White just a little more but this was a page turner.
Two character stand out, Rosamond, and Uncle Joseph, they were easy to love and were quite popular with readers. Sarah Leeson was not so easy to love until the whole "secret" was revealed, only then, could you have a better understanding of Sarah and what she had been through to make her the strange, interesting character she was.
"The idea of tracing, in this character,...more
Two character stand out, Rosamond, and Uncle Joseph, they were easy to love and were quite popular with readers. Sarah Leeson was not so easy to love until the whole "secret" was revealed, only then, could you have a better understanding of Sarah and what she had been through to make her the strange, interesting character she was.
"The idea of tracing, in this character,...more
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Wilkie Collins is one of my favourite Victorian novelists, and I think it a pity that only his two major novels (The Woman in White and The Moonstone) are widely read today, as even his minor novels have much to offer.
The novel begins with a former actress, Mrs Treverton, summoning her maid Sarah Lesson to her side. Mrs Treverton, a married woman with a young daughter, Rosamond, is on her deathbed. She charges Sarah to reveal to her husband the secret they have kept between them. Timid Sarah, se...more
The novel begins with a former actress, Mrs Treverton, summoning her maid Sarah Lesson to her side. Mrs Treverton, a married woman with a young daughter, Rosamond, is on her deathbed. She charges Sarah to reveal to her husband the secret they have kept between them. Timid Sarah, se...more
Feb 23, 2012
Marija
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
classics,
mystery-suspense
The story of the Dead Secret would have made a great film in the 1940s. Imagine as an opening, a scary looking Joan Crawford lying on her death bead forcing a very nervy Jennifer Jones, her lady’s maid, to write a confession letter directed to Joan’s husband. The letter is never given to the husband, and thus Jennifer Jones is forever haunted by the ghost of Joan until that final debt is paid. This would make for a very melodramatic film, though one that would probably be very unsettling. ;)
The...more
The...more
I read this book for my Wilkie Collins seminar (there will be seven or so more reviews by December). And it felt very long. I appreciated the experiment that Collins tried in building the novel on expectation instead of surprise, but I did figure the end out early. The figuring out of the end made it very hard to read the stretched out suspense of the text because I knew what was coming. I felt myself wishing over and over that he would just get on with it. However, I have to say that his two fe...more
This book was a very fun read and very suspenseful to the very last chapter. The unique thing about this book is that it was published in weekly increments in magazines. It is very Victorian in the exploration of the morale standards and lessons, but very enjoyable due to the colorful characters and the vivid descriptions of Cornwall and the English countryside. Wilkie Collins creates the most fantastic characters. In this story, my favorite character is the weird uncle, Andrew Treverton, who li...more
Early novel by Wilkie Collins that starts in 1829 and ends around 16 or so years later set in Cornwall. The story centers of a family secret that a dying wife is unable to tell her husband, so writes it out with the help of her maid and swears the maid to give the letter to the woman's husband when the woman dies. The maid is unable to do so and hides it it in an unused portion of the house. The secret haunts the maid and 15 years later, the woman's daughter discovers the secret.
The story revolv...more
The story revolv...more
Shakespeare might have called this 'Much ado about nothing'. The whole book was leading up to the revelation of the 'Secret' mentioned right at the beginning and in all honesty it did not need Sherlock Holmes to guess what that secret might be. However as with all of Wilkie Collins (which I have read so far) it still manages to be a page turner. One of the main strengths is the characterisation. Other reviewers have mentioned Uncle Joseph who is brilliantly drawn and to this I would add Andrew T...more
The Dead Secret isn't as good as the string of novels which immediately followed it (including The Woman in White and Armadale), but it's definitely worth reading, with a good measure of suspense and action, as well as complex characters, particularly Sarah Leeson, the woman who hides the "dead secret" of the title, and Rosamond Frankland, the woman who discovers it.
The Dead Secret is Collins' last work before he struck gold with The Woman in White, and it marks a considerable step forward from the novels which preceded it. On her deathbed, Mrs Treverton, the wife of the wealthy Captain Treverton, dictates a confession to her maid, Sarah Leeson, to pass to her husband and makes her swear that she will never destroy the letter or let it leave Porthgenna Tower. Leeson, however, hides the letter and flees, and Captain Treverton dies without ever discovering th...more
I love Wilkie Collins; he invariably tells a good story well. In this novel, Sarah, a lady's maid, hides a deathbed letter written by her mistress, Lady Treverton, which contains a secret that would alter the lives of several people. When, years later, Sarah fears the letter will be discovered, she goes to great lengths to regain possession of it to hide it anew. Complications ensue. "The Secret" comes as no great surprise to the reader, but the story is interesting, suspenseful and full of mist...more
Having previously tried my hand at short serial stories (collected and reprinted in _After Dark, _ and _The Queen of Hearts), _ I ventured on my first attempt, in this book, to produce a sustained work of fiction, intended for periodical publication during many successive weeks. The experiment proved successful both in this country and in America. Two of the characters which appear in these pages -- "Rosamond," and "Uncle Joseph" -- had the good fortune to find friends everywhere who took a hear...more
Titulo en Español: EL SECRETO DE SARAH
Titulo Original:The Dead Secret
Autor: Wilkie Collins
Traducción: Oscar Mmaristany Tolós
Editorial: Montesinos
ISBN: 84-95776-61-8
N° de Paginas: 437
EL LIBRO
Sinopsis:
El Secreto de Sarah es una investigación alrededor de un secreto celosamente guardado en una mansión, la Torre de Porthgenna, de la que la doncella Sarah Lesson huye el mismo día del fallecimiento de su señora. Quince años despues, la existencia del secreto llega a oídos de Rosamond, en ese momento...more
Titulo Original:The Dead Secret
Autor: Wilkie Collins
Traducción: Oscar Mmaristany Tolós
Editorial: Montesinos
ISBN: 84-95776-61-8
N° de Paginas: 437
EL LIBRO
Sinopsis:
El Secreto de Sarah es una investigación alrededor de un secreto celosamente guardado en una mansión, la Torre de Porthgenna, de la que la doncella Sarah Lesson huye el mismo día del fallecimiento de su señora. Quince años despues, la existencia del secreto llega a oídos de Rosamond, en ese momento...more
Written fairly early on in Collins's career, THE DEAD SECRET is no WOMAN IN WHITE - but then few books are. Instead, this is a solid, highly readable mystery, very Victorian (full of class divides and repressed secrets) and with a surprising amount of humour.
The book was written at a transitional period in the author's lifetime, made when he was gradually coming out of the influence of his friend, Dickens. Though there are themes and values evident from his later work, many of the comedic suppor...more
The book was written at a transitional period in the author's lifetime, made when he was gradually coming out of the influence of his friend, Dickens. Though there are themes and values evident from his later work, many of the comedic suppor...more
Apr 07, 2012
Casilda
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
victorian-fiction,
gothic-fiction
I had looked forward to reading this book, having enjoyed the other 5 WC books that Ive read but I was very disappointed with it and dare I admit, a bit bored. The Secret was obvious very early on and then it was just a question of reading the rest of the book to see what happens, although I could guess anyway. I found it over-melodramatic and not all that suspenseful. It was quite funny in parts and I liked the characters of the housekeeper, Mrs Pentreath and the steward, Mr Munder. Also the ch...more
Mar 27, 2011
Lobstergirl
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Nancy Grace
Shelves:
fiction
Veering between extremes of melodrama and sentimentality, stocked with unidimensional characters, The Dead Secret still takes about 140 pages to get off the ground. Reviewers of the day weren't crazy about it, either. This was a practice run for The Woman in White, so save yourself the effort and just read that one. Unless you're really, really into Victorian gothic cheese.
Collins is a great, and sadly relatively unknown nowadays. Although The Dead Secret is not as great as his masterpieces, it's still an excellent mystery about a family secret that gets buried for many years only to threaten it's appearance years later. Uncle Joseph is the sweetest, most innocent adult character you'll ever meet.
This Victorian sensation novel was serialized and you feel it-- much more so than with Collins' masterpieces Woman in White and The Moonstone. This was a good solid read for Collins fans but not his best. A good first attempt at a 'thriller.' This book needed the many POV voices that his other books have to vary the style and make it less monotonous..especially since 'the secret' is not ultimately so surprising or shocking.
I liked this book, but I felt like Collins was trying a bit too hard to be like Dickens. There were several characters that Collins spent pages and pages describing who were not really part of the story or necessary at all. The secret was easy to guess and Sarah's anguish is a bit much at times, but the end made me cry and was mostly satisfying. Not Collins' best, but a good read nonetheless.
There's a good reason Wilkie Collins has such a good reputation as a writer of suspense. I loved this. Now I want to read The Lady in White, the old black and white film of which I saw years ago on TV, when I was a teenager.
Dec 28, 2009
Suzanne
added it
A dying actress with a loyal if weak-minded maid, an embittered brother-in-law, a daughter married to a blind watchmaker, and a *terrible* secret. I'm making some tea, pulling up the covers and not coming out until I finish the last page.
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A close friend of Charles Dickens' from their meeting in March 1851 until Dickens' death in June 1870, William "Wilkie" Collins was one of the best known, best loved, and, for a time, best paid of Victorian fiction writers. But after his death, his reputation declined as Dickens' bloomed. Now, Collins is being given more critical and popular attention than he has received for fifty years. Most of...more
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“My business in life is to eat, drink, sleep, and die. Everything else is superfluity and I will have none of it. ”
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May 27, 2012 01:09pm