Review: The Woman in White

Mystery fans should read the first few pages headed Preface. The preface was written in 1861 by the author, apparently upon first publication of the story in novel form.

The novel is, as Collins suggests, first and foremost a story, and it's appeal stems largely from the author's adherence to the belief that stories, to be popular and good, needed to relate to real people, so readers could identify with the characters. It is also useful to remember that like, " A Tale of Two Cities," "The Woman in White" first appeared in a weekly serial form, in a journal titled All The Year Round. The publisher of the weekly was Charles Dickens. The novel's serialization began the same week that "Tale of Two Cities," was completed.

The novel is very long, and like many other Victorian novels, relies heavily on the language and narrative skills of the author, rather than the dialogue of the characters. The current edition weighs in at a daunting 672 pages. But they are rich pages filled with illuminations of the times. From this novel readers will gain a deeper understanding of the way in which the social structure of the time was organized, between the sexes, and the classes, the wealthy and the poor, the unlettered and the educated. Women deemed themselves powerless at many levels, and were seen to be so by men who too often preyed upon them.

Collins is considered by many to be the inventor of the sensation or thriller novel, and here one finds multitudes of thrills of every kind, as well as crimes of almost any description, from fraud, spousal abuse, slander, thievery, and kidnapping, in addition to steadfast loyalty, love and long-lasting high affection. These are exactly the kinds of emotions and motivating factors we expect today in our mystery novels and which are too often lacking, at least in sufficient quality.

The form of the story is as if each of the participants is called to provide a deposition to a court that will rule on the efficacy, accuracy and completeness of the record. Thus readers will experience some of the same events from different points of view, sometime contained in separate sections, but occasionally, particularly toward the end, in a judicious blend of viewpoints. That court, of course, is the reading public.

As principal narrator, Collins offers Londoner Walter Hartright, a commoner, a young teacher of drawing. He is engaged to teach a titled woman in an estate outside of London, near Cumberland. Laura Fairlie is pretty, untalented as a painter, an heiress and engaged to be married to a titled Lord. She falls in love with Walter and he with her, and from that emotional connection, the long winding road of the novel is energized.

The night before he is to leave for the Fairlie estate, Hartright is walking to his lodgings when he encounters a near-apparition in the road, a woman dressed all in white who is in a highly agitated state. As a gentleman should, Hartright provides her with a modicum of assistance which allows the unnamed woman to avoid her pursuers. This single act of kindness has many consequences and infuses the novel with a tangled thread that will carry readers through the entire book and adds a profound sense of mystery and even other- worldliness to the narrative. A discovery of the woman's identity, why she dresses all in white, and her connection to Walter Hartright and the people in the Fairlie estate is only a part of this novel.

Victorian language can be fulsome and tedious, and a consideration of the book should be tempered by the fact that the novel came originally to readers in weekly segments, yet the power of Collins writing, his mastery of the elements of the story and his deep understanding of basic human motivations, make "The Woman in White" a compelling read.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Carl Brookins - RAM

Book Review: The Woman in White