Cultural Dessert

'The Woman in White' by Wilkie Collins

26 October 2012

I really enjoyed 'The Moonstone' by Wilkie Collins (reviewed here in June 2009) so I thought I would explore some of his other novels. I've just finished ‘The Woman in White’ – an intriguing Victorian mystery thriller. Through a series of first person narratives from different perspectives a pseudo-legal case is built to prove how the young heroine has been wronged by her husband and to unearth the murky secrets of his past. It’s a cleverly constructed book with an unpredictable and gripping plot that I enjoyed being wrong-footed by several times. Collins is also very funny, drawing comic portraits of characters from one person’s perspective that are confirmed through their own words when the relevant character becomes the story’s narrator (something he also did in ‘The Moonstone’). I'm looking forward to reading more by him.

Labels: Books

posted by Robin Simpson @ 4:59 pm