Marian is, alas, considered unattractive by Walter, on the grounds that Marian is not sufficiently feminine. One of the two women is Marian, who is whip smart and ferociously loyal. The women are being raised, if you can call it that, by their comic relief useless uncle. Walter is an art teacher who subsequently gets a job teaching two women who are half-sisters (same mother, different fathers). Walter doesn’t rat her out, but he does make this face: Some guys run up and ask Walter if he’s seen a woman in white, explaining that she has just escaped from an insane asylum. This woman drops the hint that she’s super scared of a Baronet and then off she goes. Our story begins on a misty night when a woman dressed all in white accosts a man named Walter. Even the villain gets a crush on her.Īllow me to try to introduce the characters and the basic conflict with the help of gifs. The book features a heroine, Marian, who is absolutely wonderful. There’s a lot of discussion about “foreigners” but at least one of the foreigners in question is great (another…not so much). The book addresses, in different ways and in harrowing detail, how women are at the mercy of their guardians and their husbands. The book is also packed with social commentary, most of it quite progressive for its time.
It also has pastoral moments as well as reliance on logic, deduction, and evidence. It also works nicely as a Gothic novel, given the recurring appearance of the mysterious woman in white, the shambles of the aptly named Blackwater Park, and the sheer number of over-the-top plot devices, each one of which I shamelessly adored. The Woman in White has been called one of the first mystery novels as well as one of the first Victorian sensation novels. This book was originally released in serial format and was a huge sensation and by golly it’s still pretty hair-raising now. Do not under any circumstances start reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins unless you have nothing else to do, because once you pick it up your week will be shot.
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