The Woman in White is a mystery/thriller novel by Wilkie Collins that was originally published in 1860. This book is written in a similar style as Dracula was written where it is a combination of documents written by characters in the story. In this story they are written more in the form documents for a inquiry for a law suit. It is either as characters testimony or their journal entries. This story starts out with Walter Hartright who is an artist by trade and gives private lessons to people. He applies for and is offered a position in the country at an estate where he will be instructing two younger women, Miriam Halcombe and her half-sister Laura Fairlie, and he will board at the estate. The night before he is to leave London, he comes across a mysterious woman dressed all in white while walking back to his flat after visiting his mother and sister. This mysterious woman asks him to walk with her into London where she disappears. When Walter arrives to the estate, he is greeted by Miriam and doesn't meet Laura until later. When he see's Laura, he cant believe how much she looks like the mysterious woman. He starts falling in love with Laura during his time there until he finds out that she is engaged to be married to Sir Percival Glyde, who along with his friend Count Fosco, has plans, other than what he perceives, to swindle Laura's inheritance.
This book had been put on my radar as one to read after reading David Morrell's novel Inspector of the Dead where he included an essay about thrillers and how this novel is credited to be around the first thriller. It was a slow read for me because of how it is written and the sheer size of the book. After reading it, I'm glad I did and plan to read more novels by Wilkie Collins in the future.
If interested in reading this book, you can download it at the following sites in various formats:
Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/583
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Woman-White-Wilkie-Collins-ebook/dp/B0082Z447U/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1548387956&sr=1-1&keywords=the+woman+in+white+by+wilkie+collins
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/woman-in-white-wilkie-collins/1001834504?ean=9781365970399
Tim's Rating: ➷➷➹➹➹
(Five out of six arrows)
