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    The Woman in White
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    The Woman in White
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    The Woman in White
    Ebook879 pages15 hours

    The Woman in White

    By Wilkie Collins

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    About this ebook

    The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859–1860, and first published in book form in 1860. It is considered to be among the first mystery novels and is widely regarded as one of the first (and finest) in the genre of 'sensation novels'.


    As was customary at that time, The Woman in White was first published as a magazine serial. The first episode appeared on 29 November 1859, following Charles Dickens's own A Tale of Two Cities in Dickens's magazine All the Year Round in England, and Harper's Magazine in America. It caused an immediate sensation. Julian Symons (in his 1974 introduction to the Penguin edition) reports that "queues formed outside the offices to buy the next instalment. Bonnets, perfumes, waltzes and quadrilles were called by the book's title. Gladstone cancelled a theatre engagement to go on reading it. And Prince Albert sent a copy to Baron Stockmar."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSheba Blake Publishing
    Release dateJun 29, 2015
    ISBN9781329573031
    Author

    Wilkie Collins

    William Wilkie Collins (1824–1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. He wrote 30 novels, more than 60 short stories, 14 plays, and more than 100 essays. His best-known works are The Woman in White and The Moonstone.

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    Reviews for The Woman in White

    4/5

    103 ratings101 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The end is a bit drawn out, but all the loose ends are tied up and resolved. Quite the tale of intrigue and identity, with a number of references to the place of women in that society -- I suspect the author was a bit of a feminist in his time. Marian Halcombe is a very strong female character, even by today's standards! Collins was a contemporary of Dickens, and while this story has the saga-aspect like a Dickens book, it does not really have the long drawn out descriptions or rambling sentences of Dickens. For something written over a hundred years ago, it is actually very read-able. Just be careful you don't read too fast, or you will miss the subtleties implied in passages that are very period-typical.

      It's a long read, but good.

    • 5/5
      Ok. Amazing.

      I must confess that initially I had thought that this would be a ghost story. The title is very mysterious and the cover made the woman in white appear ethereal. Generally I try to not read too much about a book before I begin. I like to just let it unfold as I read.

      Anyway, despite my initial misconception, I loved this book. It had a great build-up, amazing characterizations, and the "just right" ending.

      It is told in pieces from varying viewpoints which give it the flavor of individual perception. As in real life we all 'think' we know what we saw but is it really what occured? I enjoyed being in the shoes of different observers as I tried to piece together what was happening. Also, I must say that when I read a passage written in the diary of one of the main characters by an outide person, I got tremendous goosebumps.

      The novel begins with an art teacher, Walter Hartright who comes to the home of a Ms. Fairlie to instruct her in drawing techniques. This Ms. Fairlie is pretty darn fair so there is love in the air; but unfortunately she is to be wed to a Sir Percival. Her half-sister Marian is there to watch the flame between the two grow but advises that the proper course must be taken and Mr. Hartright is soon sent on his way. After his departure things become complicated. Sir Percival is too good to be true and has some Jerry Springerish things lurking in his closet. Hartright goes into the deepest darkest locations to try and forget his true love and we meet one of the best characters ever, Count Fosco.

      For the longest time I couldn't tell if Fosco was the good or bad guy. But that in my opinion is what makes a good story. Fosco was such an oxymoron and very complex. He truly made most of the story and it was a worthwhile endeavor getting to know him.

      I love how Collins sneaks in bits that are subtle but say a whole heck of a lot. I don't need everything spelled out for me and I enjoy a writer who can trust his readers to interpret as they wish.

      Another observation is how delicate women were percieved to be at the time. The smallest emotional discomfort could set your health back for weeks. Thankfully Marian, for the most part, broke that mold. She was strong and smart!

      Collins is the master of mystery in this book. I read the book and also listened to it on Librovox. This is the first time I have tried this approach with a book and I must say that it really worked in terms of getting a more complete experience of Collin's writing. A great experience and I enjoyed every page.
    • 5/5
      This is such AWESOME book! This was such a well written book, very understandable, and also very mysterious. I felt like I was being led through a labrynth, and there was always something popping out around each blind turn. If only mysteries no days were always so well crafted! Definetly a MUST READ!

    • 5/5
      Good grief, this book took forever to read. Thank goodness it was well worth it! An excellent Victorian mystery; well-crafted and beautifully written.
    • 5/5
       I really liked this. The story is told by the various protagonists as they take part in the story, which makes it more like listening to a story being told. At times it is a little predictable, but the unravelling more than makes up for it. Some great characters that really capture the imagination and a most haunting atmosphere make for a good read.
    • 5/5
      Where I got the book: public domain freebie on Kindle.This is one of those novels I've been promising myself I'd read for years. I was expecting a really creepy ghost story, but what I got surprised me. The plot: this is one of those Victorian novels told through a series of documents, with several narrators giving their accounts of the tale. Drawing teacher Walter Hartright has a nighttime encounter with a woman in white, and later learns that she has escaped from an asylum. By an amazing coincidence (in true Victorian fashion, the plot depends on many unlikely coincidences) he is summoned to the north of England to teach drawing to a young woman, Laura, who bears a striking resemblance to the woman in white and who is engaged to a much older man, Sir Percival Glyde. Laura and Walter fall in love, and Walter does the honorable thing and takes himself out of the picture as he is clearly too poor and socially inferior to marry an heiress. Walter's cause is espoused by Laura's half-sister, Marian Halcombe, who later joins Laura and her new husband as they set up house with creepy Italian Count Fosco, whose wife is Laura's aunt. The woman in white remains at large and continues to warn Walter (when he returns from the obligatory Dangerous Overseas Journey), Marian and Laura about Sir Percival's and the Count's evil intentions.Despite (or because of?) the inevitable Victorian tics of overly long descriptions, melodramatic touches and Amazing Coincidences, I found this to be a cracking good story. I was surprised to detect a feminist side to Collins; he is clearly sympathetic to the plight of the middle-to-upper-class Victorian woman, who either had to marry, often against her own inclination (Laura) or remain a spinster dependent on others for a home (Marian). I do wish, though, that Collins had not been quite so Victorian about the two women; he clearly portrays Laura as the only marriageable one of the two sisters because she is fair, delicate and doll-like where Marian is strong-featured (ugly, thinks Walter when he sees her) and strong-willed and therefore DOOMED to remain unmarried.Alas, Laura comes across as wishy-washy while Marian is a superb Victorian heroine: resourceful, intelligent, kind and generous. Even though she is ready to take action on Laura's behalf, though, Marian is true to her time in her belief that they can accomplish nothing without the support of a Man of pretty much any description. A bit frustrating for a modern female reader, but there it is. Collins does a much better job than his contemporary and friend Dickens of portraying the sad truth of the female condition; I can't help feeling that (unlike Dickens, who is a thoroughgoing misogynist at heart), Collins really likes women and is keen to portray them well. With the exception of the Count (whose real gloriousness as a villain is, intriguingly, seen mostly through Marian's eyes) the really interesting people in this novel are the women. I found The Woman in White to be quite a page-turner by the end, with reasonably intricate plotting that never became too convoluted to follow. I'm glad I read it, and wonder why I waited so long.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book once it got going. The situation seems so dark it is really interesting to find out how the author resolves it. On one level the ending seems a bit too pat but I can see how hard it would be to give Walter an active role in the demise of Fosco.
    • 4/5
      The Woman in White was published in 1860 and is one of the first mystery novels. It's told by a variety of narrators according to who was actually involved in whatever part of the story. As is to be expected, some of them know more than others, and some are more reliable than others.The story centers around Laura Fairlie and her half-sister, Marian Halcombe. The first narrator, Walter Hartwright, is hired as their drawing master and in short order falls in love with the beautiful Laura. Alas, she is betrothed to another, the suspicious Sir Percival. Originally, the suspicions about Sir Percival come from the title woman, who Walter meets along a lonely road. It turns out that she had escaped from an asylum, but she insists she doesn't belong there.Of course, there are many twists and turns and connections and theories to be investigated when things all start going terribly wrong. The story being told by various people means the reader goes along for the ride, sometimes guessing where the path will lead, sometimes being led astray. I found it generally quite entertaining, although I found the last couple of sections the most difficult to get through. I guess that's just the nature of the beast - the fun is in the chase, not in the wrapping up.
    • 4/5
      This is a story of two half-sisters who are switched, one of them falling in love with the protagonist.A very confusing storyline. Definitely a thriller. Quirky characters.
    • 2/5
      I'm a fast reader. I usually love everything, but this book took me FOREVER to read. Marian and Fosco were the only interesting characters of the bunch. And, listen, I guessed the mystery before the first section was over. I guess I just want to leave the mysteries to Sherlock Holmes.
    • 5/5
      A typical Victorian novel's prose (and what rediculous comments on the passive, ineffective nature of women), but what a story! I realy got into all the twists and turns of the plot. Quite suspensful and well crafted. Collins was a master and I can see why the Victorians were as fond of him as of Dickens.
    • 4/5
      This is a fairly slow paced mystery, which I did enjoy reading the majority of the time, but found some of the book dull. It can be a bit descriptive - bordering on verbose - at times, but the actual plot is quite intriguing.
    • 4/5
      Very good thriller from the 19th century. Written from different narratives.
    • 3/5
      A monster at 720 pages, this also first appeared as a serial in the mid-nineteenth century. In many ways, it’s a traditional love story with a sort of mystery in the middle.I found it wordy (typical of its time) and the effect of the prose on me was likely amplified by reading it on my Kindle. I also thought the love story over-idealized (And what of the strong-and-capable-but-ugly sister? She’s satisfied just to be the couple’s hanger-on for the rest of her life?) In addition, I thought one of the main mystery elements was left completely unresolved at the book’s end.For what it was for its time, I rate it 3 stars.
    • 5/5
      I have been aware of this book for many years but have never read it. It is touted as being the first sensational mystery novel. I really enjoyed reading it. It is quite long and full of much description which is very difficult to skim because much of the plot is woven through the descriptions. The reader does have to remember the time when it was written and what was important as far as class and privilege and what was the proper way to act. I don't want to give any of the plot away because that is the fun part of the book. The reader needs to hang on for the first 100-125 pages while Collins sets the characters and the plot but once through that the pace picks up and I needed to keep reading to discover "the secret".
    • 5/5
      A long book but well worth it. As things evolve you end up with multiple mysteries which are solved one by one though all interconnect.If I'd been a woman of the period, the book would have given me chills. It's easy to forget how little recourse women had in those days, especially if they had no family to speak of. And sometimes even then.Mr. Collins does a marvelous job giving different voices to each of those who turned in accounts on the mystery.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyable, though flawed, book which a greatly enjoyed reading. There are some excellent reviws on this site already so I'll simply add some points which I have not seen as often mentioned by others.Firstly, I most won over by the intelligence of the Marian. It is always frustrating in a book when the virtuous are blind to the machinations of the villans. So while we, as readers, are well aware that what appears to happening is being done for an ulterior motive, the good guys blindly wander on. it was, therefore, extremely pleasing that Marian keeps right up with the reader as the plot begins to unfold in the middle third of the book.The attitudes to women are tiresome but I guess they have to be accepted as an unfortunate reflection of the contemporary prejudices. Fosco is a quite superb character and Mr Fairley is perhaps the most annoying man to grace the pages of any book.The last third lost my interest a little. The incident with the fire seemed incongruous the 'secret' has lost much of its social potency over the 150 years since publication. The lengthy coda to the story after the fire as unduly long added little that any reasonable reader had not inferred from the previous 450 pages.
    • 4/5
      Often considered the first true mystery novel, The Woman in White does, in fact, offer up a classic Victorian tale of suspense. Walter Hartright obtains a position at a wealthy estate teaching drawing to a young heiress and her half-sister. Walter falls for the already engaged heiress Laura Fairliee and is separated from her when her uncle and half-sister realize what is occurring. While Walter travels to Central America on an expedition, Laura is married to her betrothed, the loathsome Sir Percival Glyde, who clearly is only interested in Laura's inheritance. Glyde, assisted by the devious Count Fosco, an Italian gentlemen with the ability to persuade people to do his bidding by virtue of his keen intellect, soon plots to obtain his wife's wealth through whatever means necessary.Not a mystery in the traditional sense, the question at the heart of Collins's tale is not whodunnit but how and will he get away with it. Published in Dickens's weekly magazine All the Year Round, the novel offers plenty of cliffhangers to hook each week's readers and lure them into purchasing the next. Suspense is built, a bit tediously at times as some of the characters tend to wax poetic on their feelings about the goings-on.If the mystery and suspense were the entire contents of the novel, I would have been able to enjoy this even more than I did. However, keeping with the age, the novel offers a picture of female helplessness one can't ignore. Laura is utterly helpless, grows weak and faint at the slightest provocation and seems to be generally incapable of accomplishing anything on her own. The point is stretched to absurdity when Walter and Laura's half-sister Marian, in an effort to convince Laura that her drawings are executed well-enough to be sold to raise income, scheme to dispose of the drawings and split the proceeds of Walter's drawings as if some of the money was generated through Laura's sales. Marian is a much stronger woman, but even she is wont to utter phrases casting scorn on her female identity.The constant portrayals of such weakness on the part of the female leads detracts from the skill with which Collins constructs his multi-layered mystery. He may have been merely echoing the common refrains of his day, but a true master would have transcended them, not re-enforced them to drive up sales.
    • 3/5
      ClassicA Victorian, gothic read with layers upon layers of prose. Written in the epistolary style and said to be the first true "mystery" story written. If one could push past the first chapter it becomes less flowery and within the first 70 pages your theme will reveal itself quite simply. There's Walter, the poor Artist, that has been given a once in a life time employment opportunity to work at a very wealthy estate. You see the mysterious woman in white soon revealed to have a connection to the place Walter will travel. The reader catches on quickly as to the mystery but the unfolding of the mystery is one event after another. Overlook the fainting feminine parts and you have a simple mystery as well as the first in history. 3*
    • 5/5
      Walter Hartright, a young art teacher walking on the road from Hampstead to London, is startled when he is overtaken by a young woman dressed entirely in white. Visibly distressed, she begs him to show her the way to London, and he offers to take her there. The young woman accepts his offer on the condition that he allow her freedom of movement. Once he's dropped her off in London, two men in hot pursuit claim that the young woman has escaped a mental asylum and must be returned there at once, but Walter does nothing to help them in their search. The next day he arrives at Limmeridge House, where he has gained a position as a drawing master. There he meets his young pupils, half sisters Marian and Laura. In no time at all, her befriends Marian—no great beauty is she, but quick, smart and amusing—and falls desperately in love with the heavenly loveliness that is Laura. But the encounter with the woman in white will carry many consequences. I took absolute delight in discovering all the plot twists of this great classic mystery, so will disclose no more of the story nor of how it is told, but will say that it offers a wonderfully evil conspiracy and several highly memorable characters, not least of which the strange and compelling villain Count Fosco, who stole every scene in which he appeared, in my view. The sublimely selfish Frederick Fairlie is one of the most memorable invalids I have ever encountered. I must say that the audio version I listened to, narrated by Simon Prebble and Josephine Bailey, greatly increased my enjoyment with wonderfully rendered characters. Now that I've read it and that there are no more secrets for me to discover, I still look forward to reading it again for a fun romp with highly colourful characters and some Gothic frissons.
    • 2/5
      Much too talkative. I may not like Victorian novels after all... Tales of Lost Women and the Evil Men who lose them, oh my!
    • 5/5
      The Woman in White was my favorite read of 2010. (And it’s high time I got around to writing a review of it!)I had a feeling I would like the book from just the preface.I have always held the old-fashioned opinion that the primary object of a work of fiction should be to tell a story; and I have never believed that the novelist who properly performed this first condition of his art was in danger, on that account, of neglecting the delineation of character....What’s this, Wilkie? Story? Character? Are you telling me that the point of writing isn’t the creation of artistic effects? The flaunting of one’s stylistic virtuosity? The use of obscurity to simulate profundity? How ... refreshing.The Woman in White is a good old-fashioned story, told with directness, clarity, and force—but also, it may be said, a good deal of talent. Collins was clearly a master of his craft. I will not say much about the plot, because I do not want to spoil anything for new readers. It is labyrinthine, sometimes bewildering, full of twists and turns. And it is positively engrossing, so engrossing that I read it in only a week, while still working and taking college classes—and it is not a short book!One of the things that impressed me about the book was Collins’s ability to create distinct narrative voices. Many authors attempt this, and few truly succeed. Walter’s introductory description of “the weary pilgrims of the London pavement … beginning to think of the cloud-shadows on the corn-fields” drips with a Romanticism and love of nature that none of the other narrators could muster—certainly not Mr. Gilmore, the lawyer given to aphorism: “There are three things that none of the young men of the present generation can do. They can’t sit over their wine, they can’t play at whist, and they can’t pay a lady a compliment.”What is really at work here is Collins’s genius for character, and there are some great characters in The Woman in White. Most notable are the unconventional heroine, Marian Halcolmbe, and the dastardly Count Fosco. Some readers take exception to Marian’s equation of weakness with femininity, and the fact that her strength of character is, like Dracula’s Mina Harker, supposedly due to the fact that she has (to quote Stoker) “a man’s brain and a woman’s heart.” But Mina is a doofus who contributes nothing aside from some nice secretarial work, whereas Marian braves countless dangers to solve the mystery of Anne Catherick and thwart the villains’ schemes. As to her supposed weaknesses, methinks the lady doth protest too much.Fosco is a sinister yet charming villain, a larger-than-life figure who leaps off the page. In many ways he is the original of The Maltese Falcon’s Fat Man. Indeed, there seems to be a 1948 film in which Sydney Greenstreet plays the Count; I imagine he is brilliant.Even if you do not think Victorian fiction is your thing, I recommend The Woman in White, a true page-turner with a fine literary pedigree.
    • 5/5
      Infinitely better than that two-bit hack, Dickens. Collins left out just one important detail---the inscription on Frederick Fairlie's tombstone: "I told you I was sick!"
    • 4/5
      I have read quite a bit of Dickens - and enjoyed them! - but found, after a while, that things were feeling a little predictable or similar. I put down my Dickens for a long time and figured that I would have the same reaction to other books of that time. I was prompted to read "The Woman In White", finally, after reading Drood - I'd certainly heard of the book, but felt like I'd read enough Victorian fiction for a while, but the mentions of the book throughout sparked my curiousity and prompted me to give it a read. I was really glad I did! I found this more engaging than the works I'd put down - perhaps because of a different voice - but the plot managed to surprise me in several areas, and I found the style an interesting attempt on the epistolary (if not always successful). I was surprised at how compelling a read I found it. I think lovers of Dickens will certainly enjoy this book - Trollope fans might find it too emotional - but also any fans of a good mystery and this era of writing should find it an enjoyable read. I will say the mystery itself wasn't all that surprising to my modern eye, but the book had surprises in other areas and well-drawn characters. A hat tip to Mr. Collins!
    • 3/5
      This book is touted as one of the first detective stories ever written and if they all had followed this book in style and tedium I never would have read another. Maybe because of all the books that I have read that are better written and more of my timeframe, I found this book to be too predictable and the characters 1 deminsional.Not something that I would recommend.
    • 5/5
      A young artist is hired by hypochondriac Frederick Fairlie to teach his niece, Laura Fairlie, and step-niece, Marian Halcombe, art. While the delicate Laura and the clever and headstrong Marian could not be more different, they are devoted half-sisters. Laura is engaged to Sir Percival Glyde, a marriage she looks even less forward to when she realises she has feelings for her art teacher Walter Hartright. Meanwhile, Hartright has encountered a mysterious and nervous woman in white who, it unfolds, has escaped from an Asylum, and has a disturbing message delivered to Laura Fairlie. Things go from bad to worse when Laura marries Glyde. Rounding out the key characters are the sinisterly charming Italian Count Fosco and his wife, Laura's disinherited aunt.What ensues is a soap-operatic, frenzied series of events complete with mystery, paranoia, secrets, machinations, clandestine meetings, sneaking around, deaths, twists and turns, unrequited love, revenge, and more. It is important to remember, in its original form, this was a serialized work. That Collins and Charles Dickens were friends should come as no surprise either. Marian in particular can be a frustrating character - she's at once independent and constantly (bemoaning? highlighting?) her inherent feminine weaknesses. But while it is dated in this sense (and others), it is also wonderfully overwrought and tense and a fine, entertaining read.
    • 3/5
      Finally, finally finished listening to this book. Maybe this would have been better as a real book, not an audiobook, but I think I still would have found it tedious. I suspect that Wilkie Collins was paid by the word so he stretched it out as much as he could which was at least twice as much as it should have been.A young artist, Walter Hartright, helps a woman all dressed in white who needs to get to a particular address in London. The next day he is on his way to Limmeridge House to teach drawing to Laura Fairlie and her half-sister Marian. Walter immediately notices that Laura is very similar to the woman in white that he met. It turns out this woman, Anne Catherick, had resided near Limmeridge House for a time and was very fond of Laura's mother. In fact it was Laura's mother who told her she must always dress in white. Walter and Laura fall in love but Laura promised her father on his deathbed that she would marry Sir Percival Glyde. When Walter learns of this marriage he is persuaded by Marian to leave Limmeridge. Just before he leaves Anne Catherick shows up and leaves a letter for Laura warning her about Sir Glyde. Laura goes ahead with the marriage and Walter leaves on an expedition to South America.When the newly married couple return from their honeymoon Marian goes to live with them in Blackwater. Sir Glyde's best friend, Count Fosco, who is married to Laura's aunt also takes up residence. Sir Glyde tries to get Laura to sign away her inheritance because he is desperate for money. Laura refuses. Sir Glyde and Count Fosco, overheard by Marian, scheme to obtain the money by getting rid of Laura. Marian hears this crouching on the roof above the den where the men are. She catches a chill and becomes desperately ill. Laura is tricked into leaving Blackwater without Marian and then the word comes back that she has died. When Marian recovers physically she believes that Laura has been murdered. She visits the asylum that Anne Catherick has been returned to in the hopes of finding out why Anne was trying to warn Laura. Instead she finds that the woman called Anne Catherick is actually Laura. She manages to free Laura from the asylum but she cannot persuade anyone else that Laura is alive. Then Walter Hartright comes back into the picture and after many trials and tribulations he puts everything to rights.It may have been a sensation when it was first published but it is sadly dated. The concept of helpless women and heroic men is hopefully in the past. All of the characters really seemed to be caricatures. Count Fosco as the foreigner who is smarter than everyone else but grossly overweight, Sir Percival Glyde as the wastrel with a secret in his past, Laura's uncle as the effete and ineffective invalid, even Marian as the devoted handmaiden are all trite and overdrawn.Oh well, at least it's another book of the 1001 list and I've moved on to another audiobook that is quite a bit more fast paced.
    • 5/5
      This isn't a ghost story, but rather a tangled soap opera of greed and mistaken identity. The heroine of the novel isn't the mysterious woman in white, or even the hero's love interest, Laura Fairlie, but rather an independent and entirely appealing woman named Marian Halcombe. She's resourceful and intrepid and I can't think of anyone I'd rather rely on in a time of trouble. The story itself concerns Walter Hartright, a young drawing master who takes a job at Limmeridge House and there meets Miss Halcombe and Miss Fairlie. He falls in love with Miss Fairlie and, because of his lower social status, he leaves and joins a dangerous trip to South America in an attempt to forget her. Laura is married to the nefarious Sir Percival, who is, naturally, only after her money. Included in this tale is a desperate woman Walter meets one night as she escapes from a mental asylum and whose fate is tied to Laura's. There's also a colorful Italian Count, who is the most interesting and villainous of men. And present every step of the story is Miss Halcombe, who protects Miss Fairlie, solves the mystery, fascinates the Italian Count, thwarts the bad guys and keeps Walter Hartright pointed in the right direction. There's something to be said for those wordy, Victorian authors. The Woman in White is the most suspenseful novel I have read in a long time. Wilkie Collins takes his time setting the scene, and then he slowly increases the tension, never allowing the reader the easy satisfaction of a quick resolution. Rather, the reader endures what the characters must; long moments of uncertainty, hours trapped without knowing if all was yet lost. It is a credit to Collins' writing that this strategy stands the test of time. Even in our era of instant gratification, I was more than willing to allow this book to hijack my days.
    • 5/5
      This is truly a haunting story of doppelgangers, deception, heartbreak and cruelty. And yet there is something very gentle about it as well. Collins spares nothing of his wit and satirical weaponry on the deserving, but always treats his heroes and heroines with the utmost respect. It's a complex story, and in interesting insight into marriage laws and relationships in the (middle of) the Victorian era. It's a tragedy, but with a happy ending. Wilkie Collins is truly one of my favourite authors.
    • 4/5
      A drawing master by trade, detective sleuth by choice, and smitten with ill timed love by fate, Walter Hartright shares with us a story that began with a mystery encounter with a woman in white on a dark and foggy night. The identity of this mystifying lady, her plight and struggle becomes the central focus of the book in which all other characters participate in sharing. Wilkie Collin's epistolary novel is filled with all the components which make for a great and timeless classic. The characters are memorable, enter Mr. Fairlie and his anal but hilarious ways, Marian Halcombe, a heroine who can stand solidly on her own two feet; the drama is gripping as we discover the identity of the woman in white and her secrets; the love of Mr. Hartright for his beloved is swoon worthy, and the issues such as class struggles and marriage woes, are universal. Part romance, with a dollop of mystery, and a dash of crime, and a generous portion of entertainment, this classic was one that has never been out of print since it's first publication date, and once read, the reason behind its success is evident.