REVIEW: The Woman in White (book) by Wilkie Collins

The Woman in White is a mystery/thriller originally published in 1860. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Walter Hartright, a young drawing teacher, first encounters Anne Catherick, the woman in white, at the start of this story. She's lost and obviously distressed. He helps her, and later learns that she has escaped from an asylum. 

Later on, Walter is employed at Limmeridge House as a drawing instructor to Laura Fairlie, a beautiful young woman, and Marian Halcombe, Laura's less attractive but highly intelligent half-sister. Walter and Laura fall in love with each other, but Laura is unfortunately already engaged to someone else, Sir Percival Glyde. Anne Catherick suddenly rejoins the story, with vague warnings about Laura's fiance, but nothing concrete enough to call off the wedding. 

There is, however, definitely more going on with Sir Percival Glyde and Count Fosco, Sir Percival's closest friend, than is immediately apparent. What does Anne Catherick have to do with it all, and can the mysteries be untangled in time to save Laura from Sir Percival and Count Fosco's nefarious plans? 

This was very Victorian and the pacing took a bit for me to get used to. I didn't truly get into the story until after Walter left, things switched over to Marian's POV, and Count Fosco arrived. He was, for me, a more interesting villain than Sir Percival - charming, devoted to his little pet mice and birds, and yet occasionally menacing. His growing admiration for Marian made both her and my skin crawl. Honestly, I was kind of surprised that this never ended up being a breaking point for Madame Fosco, but I suppose she was too much in her husband's thrall. 

I wasn't expecting this to be quite as twisty as it became - there were a few moments that made me gasp, although I suppose I should have expected them. I was committed enough to want to know what Sir Percival's "Secret" was, and what Count Fosco got out of their relationship. I definitely had moments when I wished this had more modern pacing, though. Also, by the end Marian seemed like a more appealing match for Walter than Laura, who was beautiful, fragile, and largely useless. I hated the part where Marian and Walter convinced Laura that she was contributing to their household earnings when, in fact, Walter was pretending to sell Laura's works and passing a portion of his own income off as Laura's. That said, Marian and Laura were essentially a package deal, and reading about Wilkie Collins' own life had me wondering how he'd have written things if "reader sensibilities" weren't a concern.

My copy of this included an introduction by Anne Perry and a lengthy endnotes section that I probably didn't consult as often as I should have.