The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Derbyshire County Council’s Newbold Library Book Chat evening group meet in the library on the 2nd Tuesday each month at 7pm. We have been in existence for almost 4 years and our members vary in age from mid 20's - 70's, including  both men and women.

We hold special themed evenings, Christmas events and entertain visiting authors. Our group is very lively and enthusiastic, from time to time printing and circulating our own newsletter with reviews, poetry etc. 

We have written a previous web diary for Penguin when we discussed PD James’s novel Death in Holy Orders.  As a 19th century classic novel, The Woman in White  made an interesting contrast to many of the contemporary novels we normally read and of course is one of the BBC’s Big Read  Top 100.

Here are some of the comments from our group, starting with Brian as he outlines the setting and context:

Brian

“Intriguing and compelling reading.

A "Sensation" novel of 1860 with a dark plot, good story telling and human interest, which deals with questions of identity and insanity in English country houses and the madhouse.

A mystery of cunning, deception and conspiracy, the story  is told through the information given by the characters  who all go through a series of extreme mental experiences.

The reader follows  the psychological stress and apprehension of the main characters,  - Laura, Marian, Anne Catherick, Sir Percival Glyde, Count Fosco, Mr Fairlie and Walter Hartright -  who linger  on in the mind.

To say any more would spoil the suspense for new readers.

I first read Woman in White  40 years ago and was happy to re-read the novel for this discussion.”

Jane

“I love the language and descriptions and the characters are wonderful. I had a vivid picture of them as I read the book. The whole story kept me engrossed and I didn’t want it to end. Victorian fiction at its very best.”

Nicole

“I had forgotten what a good tale The Woman in White was! I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading it (despite the fact it was rather verbose at times). I felt that Wilkie Collins kept the suspense going throughout and kept me wondering what the secret could be. The characterisation was excellent from the drippy Laura, to the oily count.  A thoroughly good read.”

Alison

Alison read it in February, but found herself reading it again.  She also thought the suspense was very good, as was the characterisation, although perhaps Marion was not assertive  enough. She felt Walter and Marion would be better suited as a couple than Marion and Laura and also that the initial stories by Marion and Walter were very similar.

Matthew

Mathhew detested the novel, despite liking other 19th C novels such  as Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. He thought over-use of narrative instead of dialogue made the  book very long and over-written  He felt the novel  was more about ideas rather than characters about whom he didn’t much care. He also found the ending rather sudden, as did Doreen, whereas Brian felt the ending was a good summary of the book.
Matthew’s final comment is "a great story which should have been written by somebody else"!

Linda

Linda really enjoyed it. She had not read the novel before and liked the different characters’ stories as well as the  style of writing

Jean

“To me a good read is all about not wanting to put a book down until the last page and this is certainly true of The Woman in White. I particularly enjoyed the way different characters related events as seen through their eyes and felt that as well as bringing the characters to life this added to the intrigue of the book.  I found it very easy to get into right from first page.”

Doreen

“Victorian writing contains little-used words and phrases unfamiliar to the modern reader. I can imagine the readers of yesteryear eagerly awaiting the next episode printed in the newspaper. Long winded and rather drawn out story in places.  Dickensian echoes and similarities with Bronte sisters style of writing reflects the period in which this book was written. One thing I did like about the The Woman in White was the lack of profanities! “Damn” being the strongest word, which is a vivid contrast between Wilkie Collins and many contemporary authors.  I enjoyed the second part of the book more than the first . I listened on tape and the spoken word version was the next best thing to reading it myself.”

Ann
"I found the book an easy and enjoyable read – very relaxing."

Betty

“Shades of Murder in the Red Barn and Fanny By Gaslight! Typical example of  Victorian novel, this would have made wonderful melodramatic touring play of the time. I  would love to see this brought up to date by film or T.V. play.”

The characters were split into definite good people and definite bad, leading to a happy ending. The book addressed class distinction dealing with poor and rich, but not really the middle class.  It was an easy read whilst very much reflecting the the time in which it was written. Betty found Count Fosco very intriguing  - an "odd character".
She thinks she may have read it many years ago but would not re-read it again in future.  Betty would be interested to read literary criticism or "notes" on the book to see how people interpreted it or studied it for exams.

General Discussion on Collins' background and female characters

Although a friend and younger contemporary of Dickens, the group felt Collins  wrote in a very  different style and with contrasting content.

Collins based the story on a  true incident. Many of his books were serialised in magazines, including All the Year Round  (where The Woman in White first appeared) and  Household Words, both edited by Dickens. Interestingly, Doreen said she felt she was aware of the “instalments” when listening to the spoken word version and also Jean pointed out there were convenient points to stop reading which reflected the original serialisation.

With regards to the female characters, the group generally felt that Laura was rather weak and non-descript,  whereas Marion, who  looked like a man and had masculine characteristics , was far more credible.  As for the Countess: why give up her independence for a marriage where she did whatever her husband  asked?  This might be Collins’ reflections on the state of Victorian marriage, a topic he explores in many of his novels.

Overall the group enjoyed exploring a Victorian novel. They would recommend The Woman in White as a good read full of intrigue, mystery and suspense.

And a final comment from Jane:

“Most of us got real pleasure from reading or re-reading the novel and we feel it was worthy of a place in the Big Read Top 100 – Wilkie Collins at his best.  Some of us would like to see it in Top 21, but who knows! “

Notes by Judith Barlow
Of Newbold Book Chat Group

(with help from Jane Whalley and Priscilla Baily of
Derbyshire County Council Libraries & Heritage Department)