The Woman in White (1859-60) is the first and greatest 'Sensation
Novel'. Walter Hartright's mysterious midnight encounter with the woman
in white draws him into a vortex of crime, poison, kidnapping, and
international intrigue. The novel is dominated by two of the finest
creations in all Victorian fiction - Marion Halcombe, dark, mannish,
yet irresistibly fascinating, and Count Fosco, the sinister and
flamboyant 'Napoleon of Crime'.
A masterwork of intricate
construction, The Woman in White sets new standards of suspense and
excitement, and achieved sales which topped even those of Dickens,
Collins's friend and mentor.
The Woman in White (1859-60) is the first and greatest 'Sensation Novel'. Walter Hartright's mysterious midnight encounter with the woman in white draws him into a vortex of crime, poison, kidnapping, and international intrigue. The novel is dominated by two of the finest creations in all Victorian fiction - Marion Halcombe, dark, mannish, yet irresistibly fascinating, and Count Fosco, the sinister and flamboyant 'Napoleon of Crime'.
A masterwork of intricate construction, The Woman in White sets new standards of suspense and excitement, and achieved sales which topped even those of Dickens, Collins's friend and mentor.
Wilkie Collins was born on 8 January 1824 and died on 23 September 1889. In those 65 years he wrote 27 novels, more than 50 short stories, at least 15 plays, and more than 100 non-fiction pieces. A close friend of Charles Dickens from their meeting in March 1851 until Dickens' death in June 1870, Collins was one of the best known, best loved, and, for a time, best paid of Victorian fiction writers. But after his death, his reputation declined as Dickens's bloomed. Now, Collins is being given more critical and popular attention than he has for fifty years. Almost all his books are in print, he is studied widely, and new film and television versions of some of his books have been made. Nevertheless, there is still much to be discovered about this superstar of Victorian fiction.
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