Book Description
This is the most comprehensive work ever published on the life, work, and influences of Wilkie Collins. Interest in Collins has increased over recent years as his novels have gained popularity and his central role in 19th-century fiction, as a collaborator with writers such as Dickens and the father of the detective novel, has been recognized. The Guide is much more accessible than a biography: entries are arranged alphabetically and fully cross-referenced, and the text is complemented by over 200 illustrations, many of them never before published. Special attention is paid to bibliographical and publishing details. ... Read more

Book Description
This novel about the stigma of illegitimacy, rejected as immoral by the critics of its day, is now seen as a work of social insight, showing Collins at the height of his powers. Download Description
Wilkie Collins's investigation of illegitimacy and 'the woman question' in No Name (1862) compels with a wholly different order of suspense from that of The Woman in White or The Moonstone. For its family secret - the Vanstone daughters' illegitimacy, their consequent disinheritance and fall from social grace - is revealed early on, and as Magdalen Vanstone struggles to reclaim her identity, the plot uncovers many a moral, social and legal skeleton in the cupboards of Victorian society. Mercurial and unscrupulous, Magdalen is Wilkie Collins's most exhilarating heroine, one of the rare subversives in Victorian fiction and a woman dazzlingly versatile in her powers of self-transformation. Through her, with great comic vigour, No Name exposes how social identity is constructed, and how it can be dismantled, buried, borrowed or invented. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

A neglected gem
I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that until recently I had never heard of this book. However, I saw it on Harold Bloom's list of books comprising the "Western Canon" and, since I like Collins, I decided to read it.What I find!I am at a loss to understand why this book is not better known, because in this book Collins truly rivals Dickens in plot development and characterization."The Moonstone" and "The Woman in White" are classics, but "No Name" is better.Yet it is almost unknown, and I understand that for a long time it was out of print.

The less you know about this book the better.This is because it is one of the most ingeniously plotted books I have ever read, so it is best to be taken by surprise with the plot twists.Suffice it to say that it is about two sisters in a well to do Victorian household who discover, after both their parents die in fairly short order, that they are illegitimate and have no rights of inheritance.Norah, the older sister, passively accepts her fate and finds work as a governess, but Magdalen, the younger sister and the book's central character, becomes obsessed with revenge and with getting back the fortune which is rightfully hers.In this she is assisted by a charming rogue named Horatio Wragge.Read the book and see what happens!I think you'll agree that it is one of the best reads of your life.

"Mr. Vanstone's daughters are Nobody's Children"
4 1/2 stars, but I rounded up.

No Name is the story and portrait of Magdalen Vanstone... or as Wilkie introduces his novel in the preface, "Here is one more book that depicts the struggle of a human creature, under those opposing influences of Good and Evil, which we have all felt, which we have all known." It's a fairly accurate description as throughout the course of the story, we see the evolution of the character of our heroine; we see her heading down a shady path, but yet somehow from a 21st century perspective, Magdalen manages to make it seem not so immoral. Often times I see her trying to act as morally as she can in the unmoral situations she chooses to involve herself in. Part of No Name's strength, arises from the deftness in which Collins creates Magdalen. She posseses such an enormous range in character and emotion that if No Name were ever to be made into a movie, actresses would vie to have her role.

When Magdalen and her sister's inheritance are taken away due to unexpected familial circumstances, Magdalen resolutely follows a reckless path of revenge. While not exactly your Victorian equivalent of your "Kill Bill," the novel seems closer in spirit to Alexander Dumas's novel: The Count of Monte Cristo. Of course it doesn't have the swashbuckling quality of Dumas's novel as there are no fight scenes to the death. Collins's novel is set in a domestic scene with a female protagonist and the action is far tamer. It is equally gripping though because it's the chase of the revenge that's the fun part; the deceit and swindling involved, the careful measuring of your enemy's abilities that is part of charm. Collins was genius to embroil a female in a revenge type of plot and I'm just amazed at how much free agency Collins bestows upon Magdalen - a female living in Victorian times. He completely cuts her off from the ties of society and gives her free reign.

While I was reading, I felt that the novel could be loosely separated into 3 quite different parts - each with it's own distinct pacing and mood. It goes quite well with the divisions of the triple-decker novel they had long ago. I'm not spoiling much because the novel covers such massive ground, but the first part covers the idyllic times of the Vanstone family and we come to see how the inheritance is stripped from the Vanstone daughters. The second part (the best and my favorite) follows Magdalen as she pursues her revenge with the superior help of the rogue Captain Wragge, a self-proclaimed, "moral agriculturist" (I'll leave you to discover what he means by it). Wragge is one of Collins' best creations (he even beats out Count Fosco in my mind). A short, brown eyed, green eyed creature with enormous talents and verbal abilities, he is very resourceful, calculates very well, and is able to adapt quickly to whatever is needed in each situation. One of the highlights of No Name resides in Wragge's chronicle describing Magdalen's progress. The other crowning achievement is the cat and mouse game played between Captain Wragge and Madame Lecount (the housekeeper and keeper of the interest of Magdalen's victim). Both are directors of people and there is a large amount of plotting and counter-plotting that goes on that keeps the pages turning. It is here that No Name rivals that of The Woman in White, and if Collins had continued to write in this vein, No Name could have been on an equal footing to Woman in White.

However it is in the third part -dealing with the fallout of the revenge- that No Name becomes more flawed. I would say especially so in the ending. Quite a lot of Victorians found the ending distasteful, but the modern reader might find it a little dissatisfying for a completely different reason.

As No Name was delivered right after Collins's magnum opus, The Woman in White, there was a possibility of being in its shadow. However, Collins more than safely overcomes such a hurdle. He's crafted an entirely different story. Although in a way, I almost see No Name as an inverse of Woman in White. Think of a story looking and rooting from the side of Sir Percieval and Count Fosco--the nefarious plotting to take away an inheritance--and in a way, it is the story of Madgalen and Captain Wragge. Of course our sympathies are on completely different sides and this is due to the strength of Collins's characterizations. But that said, the books feel almost nothing alike.

In the end, although not as tightly plotted as The Woman in White and a bit more flawed, No Name is more ambitious, covers more ground, more character development, a lot more stories, introduces way more secondary characters, and is pretty amazing as a whole. It's a massive novel in which Collins fleshes out so many people (and for Collins that usually means, so many people to like) and Collins is able to accomplish a measurable change and growth in the character of Magdalen. The more I reflect on the novel, the better it gets for me, and the more amazed I am at all that Wilkie attempted and accomplished.

I recommend reading the Oxford World's Classics edition for its excellent introduction by Virginia Blain. It hits spot-on about everything that is good and bad about the novel as well as going into the themes of acting and of plotting (both human plotting and writer plotting).

Great Ninteenth Century Chessmatch - One of Wilkie's Best
Wilkie Collins, best know for "The Moonstone" (which I have read and loved) and "The Woman in White" (which I have not read yet) is at his best in "No Name".I do not compare it to the "Moonstone" for the "Moonstone" is a great mystery for which the reader must wait to the end for it to be revealed. "No Name" is not a mystery but one great chessmatch, that oddly enough is not played by Magdalen and Noel Vanstone. It is played by the wonderful character of Captain Wragge and Mrs. Lecount.Reading and seeing the game as it is played out is one great ride.

Although many, at the time the book was published, were shocked at the ending. I found it to be very good. It was shocking to those at the time that Wilkie would allow a woman who had done the things Magdalen had done to find happiness. As a reader, I was very much glad that she did find it (one litte bit of the ending revealed) for she deserved it (in my opinion).

In the beginning of the book, I came to very much like Magdalen and wished her success in her quest to regain her rightful inheritance - although I knew what she was doing was wrong.I also found that I very much liked Captain Wragge, for all of his "moral agriculturalism", he had a soft spot for Magdalen which came through in the story.For her part, Magdalen, trying her best to be unemotional and strong, kept her soft side when it came to Mrs. Wragge (even though she was her downfall).

All in all, this was a very good book that kept my interest through the 700 pages. For those of you that liked the "Moonstone" and the "Woman in White", "No Name" will no disappoint and I recommend it to anyone that enjoys Wilkie's style of writing.

P.S. I did not write too much about the story line for I did not want to give too much of it away.

tons of fun
This is the best-plotted book I have ever read. The intricacies of the ingenious cat-and-mouse game kept me unable to put the book down (despite its length, and my general impatience as a slow reader). Unlike other books I've read by Collins, this one is also extremely funny, largely because of one character who is an incredible rascal and scoundrel. This is really one of the most enjoyable novels I've ever found.

Page-turner
Engrossing, densely textured read.
Could claim greatness on the basis of the Wragges and Madame alone, but also contains one of the most original heroines in Victorian fiction,and draws a fascinating portrait of venality, social corruption and hypocrisy -- at times, it reminded me of both 'Pere Goriot' and 'Les Miserables'.
And it's full of those little concrete details that make nineteenth century fiction so deliciously materialistic.Don't miss out on the Oriental Cashmere Robe! ... Read more

Book Description
B`..melodrama is perennial and the craving for it is perennial and must be satisfied' T. S. Eliot ('Wilkie Collins and Dickens') Collins's ability to construct a gripping situation and to create an atmosphere of mystery and menace is fully evident in the three novellas reprinted here.All proceed through a series of dramatic scenes to a climax that in one case at least is literally explosive. The fast-pacedMiss or Mrs? (1871) opens on a yacht, features a remarkably unconventional heroine, and entails murder attempts, blackmail, clandestine marriage and commercial fraud.Dramatic and psychologically absorbing, the action of The Haunted Hotel (1878) takes place in an ancient Venetian palazzo converted into a modern hotel that houses a grisly secreI.Lastly, set in a beautiful water-mill, The Guilty River (1886) depicts a group of alienated characters, whose relationships threaten to erupt in violence and murder. Varied in setting and tone, these stories demonstrate Collins's plot-making skill at its most succinct and intricate. *Introduction* Textual Note* Bibliography* Chronology** Explanatory Notes*Appendix: Collins's prefaces ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Victorian sensationalism at its best
I suppose I should look embarrassed to be reviewing Victorian sensationalist novels, but. . .I'm not. I love them and I'm not ashamed to admit. I enjoy nearly every British Victorian author I can find--with the notable exception of Dickens (*gag*) and Emily Bronte (who was NOT the best Bronte writer by a long-shot)--and Collins is one of my true favorites. From the supernatural to the just plain mean, from true love to deadly love, from. . .well, from any hackneyed plot device to any other hackneyed plot device, you can find it in Collins, and well written, too! (Of course, one must remember that many of the trite plot devices were not so well-used when he penned them.)

These three novellas give an excellent example of the varied nature of his stories. Miss or Mrs? is a story of true love, unrequited love, greed, dark deeds, and clandestine marriage featuring one of the most insipid heroines I've seen yet. And still I enjoyed it.

The Haunted Hotel is a truly estimable work of fiction. In it Collins combines the supernatural with a truly interesting mystery and a rather sweet love story subplot. He pits human goodness against human evil with a heroine that is almost as strong and brave as she is good. One must remember the times, though, and not expect her to NOT faint away from time to time. This was my second reading of this novella and I liked it even better this time. It's truly complex and twisty and quite enjoyable.

With The Guilty River, Collins leaves the supernatural dangers and shows his readers what can happen to someone suddenly and cripplingly handicapped. . . If that someone is willing to give in to his immoral side, that is. Like the other three, love is a prominent theme, featuring another dangerous triangle of lovers.

The Haunted Hotel is by far the best of the three, but the others are still enjoyable enough to those who like Victorian literature. If one is reading them and expecting them to be comparable with modern books--DON'T. Collins, as with all Victorian writers, must be read in the spirit it was written to be fully enjoyed.
s ... Read more

Book Description
This Chronology, drawing upon recently published editions of his letters, is the first to comprehensively illuminate the facts of Wilkie Collins' mysterious life. It includes sections on people of importance in his life, is fully indexed and will be an indispensable reference work for all those related in a major Victorian writer, the Victorian novel, short story, drama and detective fiction. ... Read more

Book Description
This book fills a gaping hole in previous assessments of one of the nineteenth century's most loved novelists--Wilkie Collins. ... Read more

Book Description
"The Moonstone is a page-turner," writes Carolyn Heilbrun. "It catches one up and unfolds its amazing story through the recountings of its several narrators, all of them enticing and singular." Wilkie Collins’s spellbinding tale of romance, theft, and murder inspired a hugely popular genre–the detective mystery. Hinging on the theft of an enormous diamond originally stolen from an Indian shrine, this riveting novel features the innovative Sergeant Cuff, the hilarious house steward Gabriel Betteridge, a lovesick housemaid, and a mysterious band of Indian jugglers.

This Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the definitive 1871 edition.Download Description
The Moonstone, a priceless yellow diamond, is looted from an Indian temple and maliciously bequeathed to Rachel Verinder. On her eighteenth birthday her friend and suitor, Franklin Blake, brings the gift to her. That very night, it is stolen again. No one is above suspicion as the idiosyncratic Sergeant Cuff and Franklin piece together a puzzling series of events as mystifying as an opium dream and as deceptive as the nearby Shivering Sand. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (62)

Charming and Delightful
Memorable characters written in a charming 19th century voice.A book to be savored like a cup of flavorful British tea.The author commands his words and sentences better than most writers of today.Best for classics lovers.

Officially the first English Detective story
This is an important work to read because it is known as the first real Engligh detective story.As the first detective story it sets many of the standards for the modern-day detective story genre.Another reason why this book is interesting is because of the various eye-witness testimonies that make up the book.And I must mention here the first half of the book is written by Gabriel Betteridge, the butler for the family involved in this tale.This part of the book is excruciatingly funny.Betteridge's servant's viewpoint is pure genius.The book was published in 1868, and Wilkie Collins was actually quite advanced in his thinking for a writer of this era.The book is about the disappearance of a priceless diamond that had been brought to England from India as a spoil of war.The diamond has a curse on it, and it proves to be the undoing of various people throughout the book. The book is long, but the various viewpoints presented help to shorten the story.

Marvellous
I first read The Moonstone about four years ago, and recently picked it up for a second time after reading The Thirteenth Tale, a modern book that was inspired by another WIlkie Collins novel, The Woman in White. Said to be the first "cozy" British mystery, The Moonstone features lost jewels from exotic places, a suicide, and the ever-present bumbling country detective.

A cast of characters converge on Lady Verinder's country estate to celebrate the 18th birthday of her daughter Rachel. Franklin Blake, her cousin, comes from London to deliver the Moonstone, a jewel bequeathed to her by a relative who fought in India and claimed the stone during a raid fifty years before. During the night after the party, the stone goes missing, and suddenly everybody behaves suspiciously, especially Rachel, who Sergeant Cuff suspects of stealing the Moonstone, and a servant girl named Rosanna Spearman. Added on top of the mystery is the presence of three strange Indians. What's their role in the case? And who really took the Moonstone?

The ending surprised me twice, not least because of the way in which the mystery was revealed. Told from the perspective of Franklin Blake, loyal servant Betterige, a spinster relative, a lawyer, and others, this book is the ultimate in detective fiction. Although hard to plod through at times, I loved this book.

Worthy Holmes Competitor
Almost everyone has heard of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, whereas his predecessor Wilkie Collins has been relegated to footnote status.However writers in the "golden age" of detective mysteries, especially Dorothy Sayers, were very aware of Collins and his influence.

The Moonstone uses a clever device whereby the narrative is passed from hand to hand to tell the story of the massive yellow diamond called the Moonstone.Ill-gotten spoils from colonial India, the Moonstone vanished for a generation until it was bequeathed as an 18th-birthday gift to Rachel Verinder.The engaging characters who tell the story of the mysterious disappearance of the Moonstone on Miss Verinder's birthday, each with his or her unique background and perspective, kept me following the story until the end.Collins also depicts the setting in rural England of Rachel Verinder's home town very effectively and without romanticizing.Unexpectedly, the famous detective plays a minor and reluctant role.In the end, I found the actual method of commiting the crime to be a bit unbelievable, but because I enjoyed the storytelling so much this was a minor quibble.

A Bestseller That Stands The Test Of Time
Would it interest readers to know that at the time that William Wilkie Collins was writing THE MOONSTONE in 1858, he was cheating on Mrs. Caroline Graves, his lover?That same year he left her, and had the first of his three children with Martha Rudd, a woman he never married.Two years later, he carried on a relationship with both women!No wonder he drew the unlikable Miss Clack, the Christian evangelist, so severely.Miss Clack wouldn't have at all approved.

And why did Collins write the character of the opium-addicted physician's assistant, Ezra Jennings, so sympathetically?Perhaps because Collins was experimenting with opium at the time of its writing, but hadn't yet become the delusional addict he would become later in life.Sinning always seems fun...for a season.

You and I both know that TS Eliot, who loved THE MOONSTONE, wouldn't approve of my type of critique.He decried critics who look outside of the text.But so what?

Tabloid-style criticism will in no way detract from the excellence of this book, even if Collins was the typical intellectual who didn't think he had to play by the rules.Collins knows how to tell a story, and to keep the reader interested.And he mastered the first person narration by strictly telling us, in several distinct voices, only what each character sees and knows, which makes for some great red herrings.

Did I also mention that Collins was a best selling author and that THE MOONSTONE was the last of his successes?Who says bestsellers can't stand the test of time?
... Read more

Book Description
Series Editors: Kinley E. Roby, Northeastern University; Herbert Sussman, Northeastern University; Joseph Bartolomeo, University of Massachusetts; George Economou, University of Oklahoma; Arthur F. Kinney, University of Massachusetts

Twayne's United States Authors, English Authors, and World Authors Series present concise critical introductions to great writers and their works.

Devoted to critical interpretation and discussion of an author's work, each study takes account of major literary trends and important scholarly contributions and provides new critical insights with an original point of view. An Authors Series volume addresses readers ranging from advanced high school students to university professors. The book suggests to the informed reader new ways of considering a writer's work. A reader new to the work under examination will, after reading the Authors Series, be compelled to turn to the originals, bringing to the reading a basic knowledge and fresh critical perspectives. Each volume features:

• A critical, interpretive study and explication of the author's works
• A brief biography of the author
• An accessible chronology outlining the life, work, and relevant historical background of the author
• Aids for further study -- complete notes and references, a selected annotated bibliography, and an index
• A readable style presented in a manageable length

Amazon.com
Wilkie Collins, whom many consider the originator of the moderndetective story in novels such as The Moonstone and The Woman in White, wrote this novel when he was 19 and fired up with dreams of far-off places and heroic derring-do. Set in Polynesia in the days before European colonization, Iolani is filled with beautiful and long-suffering dusky-skinned women (with European features and heaving bosoms), wicked high priests, and even wild-eyed wild men from the forest. There are pitched battles between tribes, horrid pagan rituals, and plenty of damsels in distress, all played out against an exotic, tropical background of white beaches and swaying palm trees. In short, this is exactly the kind of overwrought romance one might expect from an imaginative young man with literary longings. Iolani, the title character, is the villain of the piece; shortly after his wife, Idia, gives birth to a son, he decides that in keeping with the religious practices of their tribe, the child must be put to death. Idia objects and ends up fleeing with the newborn and a beautiful young friend to seek protection from another tribe. Much melodrama ensues as Collins tries to fit the sensational conventions of the gothic potboiler popularized by writers such as Horace Walpole and Ann Radcliffe into a South Seas setting.

Never published during its author's lifetime, this is a novel that probably only Collins scholars could love. But even in the overheated prose and patently second- and third-hand descriptions of exotic locales, one can detect the seeds of his later, more successful works. Certainly Collins's fascination with sensational plots is evident here, but so is his radical (for the time) depiction of strong and unconventional women. Read Iolani for its historical interest; then take a look at The Moonstone to see how well Wilkie Collins grew up. --Margaret Prior Book Description
"It is not an exaggeration to claim that the resurfacing of Iolani, the first stab at fiction by a major Victoriannovelist, is a literary event of genuine importance."--Glenn Horowitz, Bookseller, New York.

Written 150 years ago, never published, and presumed lost for nearly a century, Wilkie Collins's earliest novel now appears in print for the first time. Iolani is a sensational romance--a tale of terror and suspense, bravery and betrayal, set against the lush backdrop of Tahiti. The book's complicated history is worthy of a writer famous for intricate plots hinging on long-kept secrets. Collins wrote the book as a young man in the early 1840s, twenty years before The Moonstone and The Woman in White made his name among Victorian novelists. He failed to find a publisher for the work, shelved the manuscript for years, and eventually gave it to an acquaintance. It disappeared into the hands of private collectors and remained there--acquiring mythical status as a lost novel--from the turn of the century until its sudden appearance on the rare book market in New York in 1991. This first edition appears with the permission of the new owners, who keep the mystery alive by remaining anonymous.

The novel is set in Tahiti prior to European contact. It tells the story of the diabolical high priest, Iolani , and the heroic young woman, Idia, who bears his child. Determined to defy the Tahitian custom of killing firstborn children, Idia and her friend Aimata flee with the baby and take refuge among Iolani`s enemies. The vengeful priest pursues them, setting into motion a plot that features civil war, sorcery, sacrificial rites, wild madmen, treachery, and love. Collins explores themes that he would return to again and again in his career: oppression by sinister, patriarchal figures; the bravery of forceful, unorthodox women; the psychology of the criminal mind; the hypocrisy of moralists; and Victorian ideas of the exotic. As Ira Nadel shows in his introduction, the novelcasts new light on Collins's development as a writer and on the creation of his later masterpieces. A sample page from the manuscript appears as the frontispiece to this edition. The publication of Iolani is a major literary event: a century and half late, Wilkie Collins makes his literary debut as he originally intended it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The stumbling first work of a promising young author!
Now revered as a giant of classic English literature, Wilkie Collins clearly learned from the missteps of his first efforts. For this, we can be grateful! But it must be admitted that Collins' first attempt at a novel has an overwrought hoary plot much more suited to a breathless Harlequin romance or a melodramatic soap opera set in the South Pacific.

Idia, abandoned as a young girl and barely past childhood herself, finds the child, Aimata, forsaken by her natural guardians, and assumes the responsibility for care and upbringing. Although Aimata has always felt some deep misgivings about him, Idia is swept away by Iolani, the high priest of Oro, and bears his son. When Iolani attempts to enforce the Tahitian custom of slaying his first born, Idia, Aimata and the child flee for their lives seeking refuge in the village of rival chieftain, Mahini. Falling in love with the girl child, Aimata, Mahini sees the events as an opportunity to achieve his matrimonial as well as his leadership ambitions and provokes an all out tribal war with Iolani and his brother, the king of Tahiti. Sorcery, sacrifice, bloodshed, treachery and mayhem ensue.

While the plot and the milieu are so far removed from what we will enjoy in Collins' later work as to be sadly laughable, there are germs of ideas and spots of beauty that shine through and clearly persist into the much more polished output for which he became so famous - the psychology of female victim and male villain; assertive, independent and aggressive heroines; the use of his own voice as a narrator to insert explanatory information from time to time; courage and determination in the face of danger and extremity; lush, descriptive passages -

"The thunder still sounded its hollow retreat in the distance, and the rain drops still pattered faintly on the torn, dripping leaves of the forest. The waters of the lake, had changed in the night to a monotonous dun colour and still heaved wearily about, though the violence of the tempest was over and past. The tops of the mountains were hidden in deep mists and the thick, black clouds of a few hours since, had amalgamated into great masses of a grey hue, cold and indistinct to look upon, yet promising, in the eastern heaven, a bright and beautiful day."

and short gems of philosophy that cannot fail to provoke thought and discussion -

"While liberty frees the body, captivity loosens the soul. It is when the body is in bonds, that the spirit most experiences its perilous privilege of freedom."

If you're a confirmed Collins fan, you're sure to enjoy Iolani and recognize it for what it is - the stumbling first work of a promising young author. If you have yet to read anything by Collins, for goodness' sake, be sure you DON'T start here! Pick up A Woman in White or The Moonstone, and move on to Blind Love, Armadale and The Law and the Lady. By then you'll be a confirmed fan and you can come back to this one.

Paul Weiss

Iolani or Tahiti As it Was A Romance
This book was very difficult to understand because it is written in difficult english with many big words.I didnt understand what it meant until i read reviews amd summaries of it.I wouldnt recomend it unless you want to be constantly looking up words in the dictionary. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

One woman's journey through madness, murder, and mistaken identity -- a classic work of Victorian sensationalism.

• A concise introduction that gives readers important background information

• A chronology of the author's life and work

• A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context

• An outline of the key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations

• Detailed explanatory notes

• Critical analysis including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work

• Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction

• A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience

... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Journey Into the Past
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.It is, of course, written differently than the novels today.But that is a part of its appeal.The author descriptively paints a portrait with his words and I gladly stepped into the story.We read the book in our book club and everyone loved it.Give it a try and see if you like it.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
I have read this for a book club.It took a few pages to get used to the 19th century writing, but when I did I have found it very enjoyable.The book is a trifle "wordy" however even that proves to be part of what makes it interesting. The plot is quite involved and not so realistic and yet I highly recommend it and I think it will be a great book club discussion.......

"Make 'em laugh, make 'em weep, make 'em wait, and make 'em come back."
This advice for writing serial romances, alternately attributed to Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, and Charles Reade, is epitomized in this 1860 novel by Collins, a story of thwarted love, a marriage of obligation, claims on inheritance, the victimization of women, and, most of all, engaging mystery. Collins, often credited as the father of the mystery genre, creates a fast-paced story of Victorian England, revealing much about Victorian society and its values--the role of women, the laws governing marriage and inheritance, the social institutions of the day, the contrasting attitudes toward the aristocracy and the lower classes, and even the level of medical care and the treatment of psychological illness.

When drawing master Walter Hartright is on his way to teach Marian Halcombe and Laura Fairlie at Limmeridge House, in Cumberland, England, he meets a "woman in white," a young woman who knows Limmeridge House well because she was mentored by Mrs. Fairlie, Laura Fairlie's deceased mother. The "woman in white" is Anne Catherick, who looks just like Laura, but who is an escapee from a nearby mental asylum. Upon his arrival at Limmeridge House, Walter immediately falls in love with the beautiful Laura, but she has made a deathbed pledge to her father to marry to Sir Percival Glyde, someone Anne Catherick despises and blames for her own incarceration. Throughout the novel, Anne visits various characters to offer help in combating Sir Percival and his cohorts.

The story unfolds through documents held by a variety of characters, each of whom tells the story from his/her own point of view. The reader develops sympathy for the innocent and beautiful Laura, respect for her homely but bright half-sister, Marian Halcombe, sadness for Walter Hartright, and hatred for Sir Percival and his friend, the Italian count Fosco, with whom Sir Percival is in business. Sir Percival and the count need financing, and it is Laura's inheritance that is at stake. A series of consecutive disasters, along with arguments, revelations of abuse, the fear of exposure, and the contemplation of murder by Sir Percival and Count Fosco, draws the reader irrevocably into the action.

The characters are sympathetically drawn, with Collins showing an early awareness of the influence of psychology on behavior. The descriptions of nature, presented realistically and in minute detail, build suspense, as Collins creates parallels between nature and the details of plot. As is usually the case with romances, chance plays a huge role in the unfolding action, creating cliff-hanging suspense which contributes to the excitement--and pure fun--of this seductive novel. The conclusion, involving a subplot unrelated to the primary action, resolves issues conveniently. The almost-forgotten author of twenty-five novels, Collins was one of the most successful authors of Victorian mysteries, and he is gaining new attention as a result of reprints of this novel and The Moonstone.Mary Whipple
... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
Wilkie Collins was one of the most popular writers of the nineteenth century. He is best known for The Woman in White, which inaugurated the sensation novel in the 1860s, and The Moonstone, one of the first detective novels; but he wrote over 20 novels, plays and short stories during a career that spanned four decades. This Companion offers a fascinating overview of Collins's writing. In a wide range of essays by leading scholars, it traces the development of his career, his position as a writer and his complex relation to contemporary cultural movements and debates. Collins's exploration of the tensions which lay beneath Victorian society is analysed through a variety of critical approaches. A chronology and guide to further reading are provided, making this book an indispensable guide for all those interested in Wilkie Collins and his work. ... Read more

Book Description
Heart and Science, one of Wilkie Collins' later novels, is concerned with the debate over what he termed 'the hideous secrets of vivisection.' The tale of a family split by various opinions and sentiments, as well as the novel's clear parallels to the animal welfare/animal rights debates of today will strike chords of understanding with modern readers, who always relate well to the accessible conversational style of Collins' prose.

Appendices of contextual material include contemporary reviews, Carroll, Cobbe and others on the vivisection debate of the 1870s, Collins's letters, and R. Browning's anti-vivisectionist poems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Great Read
Collins's book is very interesting--it's the story, by the inventor of the detective novel, of a tall, evil neurologist driven by the frantic pace of science to disect living, screaming animals in his search for a cure forbrain disease.And the Broadview edition is excellent--it provides theprimary texts of the vivisection debate of the 1870s and 80s, includingFrancis Power Cobbe's essay and documentation of the court case.Excellentscholarly work made available and accessible to beginners--I've used thenovel in a course on Literature and Science with great success.

Steve Farmer presents a strong edition ofHeart and Science
Heart and Science is a very interesting novel, both for it's historical connection to late-Victorian anti-vivisectionist movement and for Collins's interesting story. I won't say it is one of his strongest novels but it isquite readable and nicely intriguing.

Farmer's edition is quitestrong.His notes and appendicies are thorough and extremely useful, as arethe introduction, the select bibliography,and the other accompanyingmaterial, of which there is plenty.

Farmer vs. Collins
This book, one of Collins's late sensation novels, is decidely less well constructed than "The Woman in White" or "The Moonstone": you are very often able to tell what will happen next and even how the whole thing is probably going to finish.

The editor has done his best to increase the attractivity of the book by adding to it an exhaustive documentation. But what is really VERY annoying is that the editor, who according to his introduction pretends to give a philologically reliable text of the novel, obviously has dispensed himself of a serious proof-reading.

A great number of misprints have not been corrected -- in some instances, the sense of the text has been almost perverted (e.g. because quotation marks are missing so that you don't know that it is a person of the novel and NOT the narrator who is talking).

Things like these shouldn't occur in a text edited by a professor of philology. ... Read more

Book Description
At the center of Hide and Seek (1854) a secret waits to be revealed. Why should the apparently respectable painter Valentine Blyth refuse to account for the presence in his household of the beautiful girl known only as Madonna? It is not until his young friend Zack Thorpe--rebelling against
his repressive father--takes up with bad company and meets a mysterious stranger that the secret of Madonna can be unravelled. ... Read more

Book Description
In this major biography, Catherine Peters explores the complicated life of Wilkie Collins, the greatest of the Victorian "Sensation" novelists and author of the famous Woman in White and The Moonstone. An intimate of Dickens and of the Pre-Raphaelites Holman Hunt and Millais, Collins was called the "king of inventors" by his publisher. On the surface, he was charming, unpretentious, and extremely good company, beloved by men and women. Beneath this faade, however, he was a complex and haunted man, addicted to laudanum, and his powerful, often violent novels revealed a dark side of Victorian life. He supported two common-law wives and their children, and as Peters shows, he provoked scandal by refusing to cloak his complicated love affairs in the customary hypocritical pretense of the period. Having discovered a hitherto unknown autobiography by Wilkie Collins's mother, Peters draws on this document and on thousands of Collins's unpublished letters to create this provocative picture of his life and times. She describes in detail the saga of his exhausting struggle for better copyright protection for authors, especially for English authors in the United States. She has also studied the manuscripts of his novels, plays, and stories, including those which he did not complete, finding that some of his neglected novels turn out to be much more interesting than most readers realize today. This edition of the book has been supplemented to include an appendix describing Collins's "Tahitian" novel. Written when he was twenty, the manuscript of this work, Iolni, was thought to have disappeared, but it has recently been rediscovered and sold to a private collector. For any Collins enthusiast, or for anyone interested in the literary history of the Victorian period, The King of Inventors provides a vivid account of Collins's unusual personal life in the context of his literary and artistic friendships and of newly revealed facts about the two women with whom he shared his "double life." In this major biography, Catherine Peters explores the complicated life of Wilkie Collins, the greatest of the Victorian "Sensation" novelists and author of the famous Woman in White and The Moonstone. An intimate of Dickens and of the Pre-Raphaelites Holman Hunt and Millais, Collins was called the "king of inventors" by his publisher. On the surface, he was charming, unpretentious, and extremely good company, beloved by men and women. Beneath this faade, however, he was a complex and haunted man, addicted to laudanum, and his powerful, often violent novels revealed a dark side of Victorian life. He supported two common-law wives and their children, and as Peters shows, he provoked scandal by refusing to cloak his complicated love affairs in the customary hypocritical pretense of the period. Having discovered a hitherto unknown autobiography by Wilkie Collins's mother, Peters draws on this document and on thousands of Collins's unpublished letters to create this provocative picture of his life and times. She describes in detail the saga of his exhausting struggle for better copyright protection for authors, especially for English authors in the United States. She has also studied the manuscripts of his novels, plays, and stories, including those which he did not complete, finding that some of his neglected novels turn out to be much more interesting than most readers realize today. This edition of the book has been supplemented to include an appendix describing Collins's "Tahitian" novel. Written when he was twenty, the manuscript of this work, Iolni, was thought to have disappeared, but it has recently been rediscovered and sold to a private collector. For any Collins enthusiast, or for anyone interested in the literary history of the Victorian period, The King of Inventors provides a vivid account of Collins's unusual personal life in the context of his literary and artistic friendships and of newly revealed facts about the two women with whom he shared his "double life." ... Read more

Book Description
When a condemned woman asks the local Minister to take her daughter home, the childless man is touched and finds himself unable to refuse. Yet the prisoner is unrepentant of the murder of her husband. Will her vices be passed on to this seemingly sweet child? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The sins of the mothers
This is one of Collins' slightly less atrocious pot-boilers (compared to, say, "Jezebel's Daughter", "Heart and Science", or"The New Magdalen").Fans of the Victorian sensation-novel witha bit of Collins' late work already tucked under their belts will know whatto expect and can dig in without flinching, but most other readers wouldfeel better rewarded by the fine novels Collins published before 1872.Hislast book but one, "Legacy of Cain" is readable today onlybecause competently written and well paced, enough so at least to sustaininterest in what-happens-next.The text is studded with failed attempts atpithy irony, often out of character since various narrators are frontingfor the hovering author, but the lapses in tone can be ignored. The plot iserected on a shaky scaffolding of incredible coincidences and a hodge-podgeof memoirs, journals, and extremely private letters which people keepshowing one another beyond all bounds of plausibility and common sense; thecharacters are cardboard prop-ups prone to gratuitous malice, meddling, ormaudlin muddling; and the whole is artifically contrived to explore thequestion of whether criminal tendencies are transmitted by heredity and aresusceptible to the counter-influence of sound moral upbringing.Don't waitbreathlessly for a convincing analysis.

A Congregational minister, theRev. Gracedieu, performs an impulsive act of charity, adopting thesoon-to-be-orphaned infant daughter of a condemned murderess on the eve ofexecution, although warned that the mother's taint might manifest somedayin the child.Shortly afterwards, his previously childless wife givesbirth to a daughter of their own and, without his knowledge, conceives thecold-hearted plan of ousting the cuckoo from her nest.Only the Governorof the prison is aware of the lady's perfidy, but when she dies beforegaining her ends he holds his peace and allows her doting husband tocontinue idolizing the wife's sainted memory. Gracedieu retires to a townwhere his circumstances are unknown and even-handedly brings up both girls,Eunice and Helena, as his own.Both are imbued with the highest principlesand a strict education eschewing such corrupting influences as Frenchnovels, newspapers, and the theater. To ensure that the adopted child'sdubious history is never disclosed, the minister refuses to reveal even tohis daughters who is the eldest and where they were born. Through thisstratagem, Collins introduces the grown-up young women to the readerwithout letting on which is which. Although he could easily keep up themystification until almost the end of the novel, with a decided gain in thesuspense factor, the author discards that opportunity less than halfwaythrough when he decides to drag the Governor back on stage to take anotherturn as narrator.

Eunice, sweet and ingenuous, has fallen in love with ayoung man she met on a visit to London, the rich and handsome PhilipDunboyne, but when Philip visits the provincial town where she lives to askGracedieu for her hand in marriage he is ensnared by the physical charms ofthe other sister, Helena, who proceeds to rob Eunice of her fiancé. Gracedieu refuses to countenance a marriage with Eunice, while Philip'sfather threatens to disinherit him if he marries Helena.Philip dithersbetween the two until Helena has seduced him and Eunice has rejected him,upon which his wandering eye returns to his first choice. Gracedieu'sclumsy, but well-meaning cousin Selina, her mysterious friend MrsTenbruggen, and the nameless Governor interfere in the interests of oneparty or the other. Meanwhile, since no Collins novel can do without acrime, one of the rival sisters attempts to poison Philip, but is foiled bythe vigilance of the Doctor called in to treat Gracedieu's typicalVictorian complaint (a "nervous disorder" requiring rest andforeign travel, followed by "brain disease" because he wouldn'tgo). Collins recklessly tosses in a supernatural visitation to muddy thewaters still more: the dead murderess' spirit seems to haunt her daughterin a dream, tempting her to commit murder herself, and in another scenebriefly "possesses" her. Nothing approaching a rationalexplanation is offered.

"Legacy of Cain" finally shakes thedirt off its skirts and metes out joy to nearly all concerned. Even thewicked sister eventually lands on her feet.In the merry mood of the lastchapter, it's a pity that Collins sees fit to jerk some tears by consigningpoor Rev. Gracedieu to senile dementia and the elder Dunboyne to the gravejust to spare them the shock of revelations everyone else takes in strideand squelch all possible objections to the happy-end wedding. ... Read more