Currently I am ensconsed at my mum's house in Ireland for Christmas and New Year. Being in the middle of nowhere there is one convenience of modern living yet to reach their peaceful and idyllic hamlet: Broadband!
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I love this book. I know I’ve said it a million times before, but I do. The plot of the story is so complex and ingenious you can’t help but get drawn into it. Coupled with this are the characters within which are brilliant and which introduces to us two of the finest characters I think to be created in Victorian fiction.
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Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a musical (yes I know, a musical!) based on this novel by Collins and I remember going to see it in London in 2005. The ending of the story and the discovery of the treachery involved is so complex I was mostly intrigued as to how Lloyd Webber would present this on stage. I would say that if you haven’t read the book then go and give the musical a look. However, if you have read the book and if you love it as much as I do, then don’t bother. Lloyd Webber gets around the difficulties in presenting this kind of fiction on stage by completely rewriting the end of the story. Sacrilege!
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Anyway, back to the book. I will try and give you the basic plot (which is hard not only because it is so involved but also because every time I read it discover something new!) with giving too much away and without confusing you, or me for that matter…
.
Walking on his way back to London from Hampstead a poor drawing master (class and status is very important in this book) named Walter Hartwright meets a woman all dressed in white. She asks his for assistance in getting back to town as she has just escaped from an asylum near by. Walter agrees to help her after ascertaining that she has been falsely imprisoned there by a man whom she will only reveal as having the title of Baronet. They walk back to London together where he sees her safely on her way to a friend's house.
The next day Walter travels to Limmeridge House in Cumberland where he has secured temporary employment as a teacher of drawing to two young sisters. Enter Laura Fairlie and (the amazing marvelous) Marian Halcombe. These two are half sisters with their mother in common hence the difference in surname. Walter tells Marian of his adventure with the mysterious woman in white because she had mentioned Limmeridge (and Mrs Fairlie) to him on their walk back to London as being a place she had been happy in her childhood. Marian resolves to try and identify this woman by scouring her mother's letters for any reference to her as a child and finally concludes that her name is Anne Catherick.
In a nutshell, Walter and Laura fall in love but 20 year old Laura is unfortunately already engaged to 45 year old Sir Percival Glyde (Baronet!) by the wishes of her father and the promise she made to him on his deathbed. The only reason ages are important here is to reveal that Laura, being not yet of age is not legally able to speak for herself, and also that it is unlikely she will die before Sir Percival since he is so much older than her.
Laura is sent a letter by Anne alluding to Glyde’s unsavory characteristics and conduct but as Laura is tied by her promise she can’t claim her release from Glyde. Walter tracks down Anne in Limmeridge churchyard (it’s a long story) and is struck by the extraordinary likeness that she and Laura share. Laura tries to entice Glyde into releasing her from the marriage by telling him that she is in love with Walter and that her heart will always belong to him. This however, only seems to make Glyde love her more (sneaky bastard). It is worth mentioning here that Glyde has cunningly devised a marriage settlement whereby he will stand to inherit all of Laura’s fortune in the event of her death before him if she leaves no children… hmmm…! Seeing that there is no future for himself and Laura, Walter sails off to Central America and Laura marries Sir Percival to begin her miserable life as Lady Glyde.
Forward six month later and Laura returns from Europe with her new husband to reside with her sister Marian at the rundown Glyde property, Blackwater Park. Here they are all joined by the other great character in this story: Count Fosco, whose wife the Countess is also Laura’s aunt. The plot thickens. Count Fosco is the evil genius of the story and after his introduction the true level of deceit and betrayal against Laura, Anne and Marian begins… (although he can’t be that clever if he thought he could get one over not just one woman, but three of them – one of them being the remarkable Marian!). However, the sheer level of Count Fosco’s Machiavellian quality is brilliantly presented in his character by Collins. He is the puppet-master of them all.
I’ve totally skimmed over the plot, and haven't even tried to explain the second half to you... but it’s so utterly involving and intricate that I think anyone would be hard-pushed to give you a complete guide to the ins and outs of the story without simply re-writing the whole thing in the process. To be honest this kind of sensationalist fiction (of which this book is widely considered to be the first of its kind) is something that you really have to sit down and read in order to be able to appreciate the true brilliance of it. I have yet to come across an adaptation in film, theatre or television that truly does it justice.
.
Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a musical (yes I know, a musical!) based on this novel by Collins and I remember going to see it in London in 2005. The ending of the story and the discovery of the treachery involved is so complex I was mostly intrigued as to how Lloyd Webber would present this on stage. I would say that if you haven’t read the book then go and give the musical a look. However, if you have read the book and if you love it as much as I do, then don’t bother. Lloyd Webber gets around the difficulties in presenting this kind of fiction on stage by completely rewriting the end of the story. Sacrilege!
.
Anyway, back to the book. I will try and give you the basic plot (which is hard not only because it is so involved but also because every time I read it discover something new!) with giving too much away and without confusing you, or me for that matter…
.
Walking on his way back to London from Hampstead a poor drawing master (class and status is very important in this book) named Walter Hartwright meets a woman all dressed in white. She asks his for assistance in getting back to town as she has just escaped from an asylum near by. Walter agrees to help her after ascertaining that she has been falsely imprisoned there by a man whom she will only reveal as having the title of Baronet. They walk back to London together where he sees her safely on her way to a friend's house.
The next day Walter travels to Limmeridge House in Cumberland where he has secured temporary employment as a teacher of drawing to two young sisters. Enter Laura Fairlie and (the amazing marvelous) Marian Halcombe. These two are half sisters with their mother in common hence the difference in surname. Walter tells Marian of his adventure with the mysterious woman in white because she had mentioned Limmeridge (and Mrs Fairlie) to him on their walk back to London as being a place she had been happy in her childhood. Marian resolves to try and identify this woman by scouring her mother's letters for any reference to her as a child and finally concludes that her name is Anne Catherick.
In a nutshell, Walter and Laura fall in love but 20 year old Laura is unfortunately already engaged to 45 year old Sir Percival Glyde (Baronet!) by the wishes of her father and the promise she made to him on his deathbed. The only reason ages are important here is to reveal that Laura, being not yet of age is not legally able to speak for herself, and also that it is unlikely she will die before Sir Percival since he is so much older than her.
Laura is sent a letter by Anne alluding to Glyde’s unsavory characteristics and conduct but as Laura is tied by her promise she can’t claim her release from Glyde. Walter tracks down Anne in Limmeridge churchyard (it’s a long story) and is struck by the extraordinary likeness that she and Laura share. Laura tries to entice Glyde into releasing her from the marriage by telling him that she is in love with Walter and that her heart will always belong to him. This however, only seems to make Glyde love her more (sneaky bastard). It is worth mentioning here that Glyde has cunningly devised a marriage settlement whereby he will stand to inherit all of Laura’s fortune in the event of her death before him if she leaves no children… hmmm…! Seeing that there is no future for himself and Laura, Walter sails off to Central America and Laura marries Sir Percival to begin her miserable life as Lady Glyde.
Forward six month later and Laura returns from Europe with her new husband to reside with her sister Marian at the rundown Glyde property, Blackwater Park. Here they are all joined by the other great character in this story: Count Fosco, whose wife the Countess is also Laura’s aunt. The plot thickens. Count Fosco is the evil genius of the story and after his introduction the true level of deceit and betrayal against Laura, Anne and Marian begins… (although he can’t be that clever if he thought he could get one over not just one woman, but three of them – one of them being the remarkable Marian!). However, the sheer level of Count Fosco’s Machiavellian quality is brilliantly presented in his character by Collins. He is the puppet-master of them all.
I’ve totally skimmed over the plot, and haven't even tried to explain the second half to you... but it’s so utterly involving and intricate that I think anyone would be hard-pushed to give you a complete guide to the ins and outs of the story without simply re-writing the whole thing in the process. To be honest this kind of sensationalist fiction (of which this book is widely considered to be the first of its kind) is something that you really have to sit down and read in order to be able to appreciate the true brilliance of it. I have yet to come across an adaptation in film, theatre or television that truly does it justice.
.
The opening lines of the story are among my favorites:
The opening lines of the story are among my favorites:
“This is the story of what a Woman's patience can endure and what a Man's resolution can achieve”
And one of my other favorite lines is found in Mr Gilmore’s narrative when preparing to address Marian. He wisely states that:
“No sensible man ever engages, unprepared, in a fencing match of words with a woman.”
Excellent advice!
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Trust me. It’s a really, really great book. The Woman in White and I are off to get a room…
Trust me. It’s a really, really great book. The Woman in White and I are off to get a room…
