The Woman in White - BookDragons

Hardcover, 518 pages

English language

Published Jan. 5, 1861 by London and Glasgow: Collin's Clear-Type Press.

OCLC Number:: 56271543

No rating (1 review)

Excerpt from The Woman in White: A Novel Wilkie Collins 1861 ed. 'Preface'

The Woman In White has been received with such marked favour by a very large circle of readers, that this volume scarcely stands in need Of any prefatory introduction on my part. All that it is necessary for me to say may be summed up in a few words.

I have endeavoured, by careful correction and revision, to make my story as worthy as I could of a continuance of the public approval. Certain technical errors which had escaped me while I was writing the book are here rectified. None of these little blemishes in the slightest degree interfered with the interest of the narrative - but it was as well to remove them at the first Opportunity, out Of respect to my readers and in this edition, accordingly, they exist no more.-- Wilkie Collins. Harley Street, …

Excerpt from The Woman in White: A Novel Wilkie Collins 1861 ed. 'Preface'

The Woman In White has been received with such marked favour by a very large circle of readers, that this volume scarcely stands in need Of any prefatory introduction on my part. All that it is necessary for me to say may be summed up in a few words.

I have endeavoured, by careful correction and revision, to make my story as worthy as I could of a continuance of the public approval. Certain technical errors which had escaped me while I was writing the book are here rectified. None of these little blemishes in the slightest degree interfered with the interest of the narrative - but it was as well to remove them at the first Opportunity, out Of respect to my readers and in this edition, accordingly, they exist no more.-- Wilkie Collins. Harley Street, London. February, 1861

49 editions

LizAndra@books.theunseen.city reviewed The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Period suspense delivers

No rating

I have read The Woman in White once, listened to it read on the Phoebe Reads a Mystery podcast, and now I've listened to the audiobook version. I can say that this audiobook is my favorite experience of this book, largely due to the narrator, Ian Holm.

The story is set in 1850 in England. An heiress, who is orphaned and dependent on a self-absorbed uncle who just wants her to go away. Her half-sister is the other resident of the house, into which comes an art teacher. The art teacher and the heiress fall in love, and so of course he must leave because she is betrothed to a baronet. He seems quite attentive and kind at first. All is not what it seems, however. She receives a mysterious letter warning her about her fiancé, but she is too honorable to back out of the arrangement. What happens next …

I have read The Woman in White once, listened to it read on the Phoebe Reads a Mystery podcast, and now I've listened to the audiobook version. I can say that this audiobook is my favorite experience of this book, largely due to the narrator, Ian Holm.

The story is set in 1850 in England. An heiress, who is orphaned and dependent on a self-absorbed uncle who just wants her to go away. Her half-sister is the other resident of the house, into which comes an art teacher. The art teacher and the heiress fall in love, and so of course he must leave because she is betrothed to a baronet. He seems quite attentive and kind at first. All is not what it seems, however. She receives a mysterious letter warning her about her fiancé, but she is too honorable to back out of the arrangement. What happens next is a suspenseful story of 2 women trying to save themselves in a time and place where they have no agency.

Ian Holm is a delightful narrator for this story. In particular, his portrayal of the awful uncle is genius. The book is long (670+ pages; audio 24+ hours), but worth the time if you enjoy period suspense.