The Woman in White

This book is considered to be one of the first mystery and one of the first detective novels ever written. Wilkie Collins was a lawyer, and presented the story the same way that witnesses would present a case in court. Clever.

Walter Hartright is walking home one night when he runs into a woman wandering around wearing nothing but white (which apparently was unusual at that time). He helps her on her way, and then finds out later that she had escaped from an asylum. The day after he encounters the woman in white, Walter goes to Limmeridge House to work as a drawing master to two young ladies. One of the ladies is Marion Halcombe, who’s ugly as heck, but very clever and fun. The other lady is Laura Fairlie, who looks a lot like the woman in white.

Walter and Laura fall in love (because of course he loves the pretty simp, not the clever one), but nothing will come of it, because she’s promised elsewhere. So Walter goes away, far far away. And thus ends (at least for a while) Walter’s narration. While he’s gone, a lot of things happen, including Laura’s marriage, which turns out to be a huge mistake.

The plot gets a ton more complicated and twisty from there, too much to get into here. The book is long, almost too long (ok, yes, too long), but it’s also compelling, and moves along at a good pace. I have more Collins on my Kindle, just need to find the time to read it.