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The Woman in White

Wilkie Collins

Start date: April 1, 2025

Finish date: April 30, 2025

Discussion: Old School Classics, Pre-1915

Why we're reading this: Old School Classics Group Read April 2025

Previous Group Reads:
4th Quarter Long Read 2017
Revisit the Shel…more
[close] Old School Classics Group Read April 2025

Previous Group Reads:
4th Quarter Long Read 2017
Revisit the Shelf Reread, November 2014
Old School Classic Group Read, April 2013

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Old School Classics, Pre-1915

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What Members Thought

Oct 26, 2014 Katy rated it really liked it

2017: Worth the reread. Still a good story and mystery.

2014: Great mystery! A bit long winded in places, and the attitude toward women is dated to the time period. Very enjoyable read.

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Jul 16, 2011 Franky rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, mystery, kindle, favorites, history, historical-fiction, amazing, victorian

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Similar to Wilkie Collins other masterpiece, The Moonstone, various characters narrate sections of The Woman in White and the story is told as the characters look back on what has already happened. This method of building a mystery is fantastic because we, as readers, also become sleuths in the mystery that takes place. Collins ability to get into characters heads enhances the level of suspense, and gives it a sense that we are right there with them.

In The Woman in White, Walter Hartright decid Similar to Wilkie Collins other masterpiece, The Moonstone, various characters narrate sections of The Woman in White and the story is told as the characters look back on what has already happened. This method of building a mystery is fantastic because we, as readers, also become sleuths in the mystery that takes place. Collins ability to get into characters heads enhances the level of suspense, and gives it a sense that we are right there with them.

In The Woman in White, Walter Hartright decides to take a job as a drawing instructor at the Fairlie House, where Laura Fairlie, Miriam Holcombe, and Laura’s uncle reside. Once there, Walter is enchanted with the beauty of Laura, but discovers that Laura’s uncle has already arraigned a marriage between Laura and Sir Percival, a diabolical man whose interests lay mainly in greed and deception. While there, Walter has a few strange incidents, one of these being an encounter with a mysterious woman in white who appears to have run away from an asylum. Walter is a little distraught after this encounter, wondering why she appeared and what she could have wanted from him. Things get more extraordinary as this random encounter seems to propel Walter into the Fairlie family secrets, and a villainous scheme by Laura’s husband Sir Percival and his accomplice, the equally ruthless Count Fosco. Walter finds himself right in the middle of Sir Percival's plan, which is to not only take the Fairlie fortune but “rid" himself of various individuals one way or another. Walter, with the aid of Laura and Miriam, tries to foil this plan.

Collins has an extraordinary method of creating plot, tying all loose ends, all the while having intricate and complex narratives and twists. Moreover, he is a suburb storyteller, and although some may not like his deeply detailed methods, I feel that these give credence to character and story depth. There is a dark Gothic kind of feel to The Woman in White; it is a perfect read for a cold, rainy, thundery night. Heroes, villains, deception, twists, turns, secrets revealed, and supernatural elements: The Woman in White is a page turner despite its daunting length.
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