Black Secrets Cloak Wilkie Collins's Woman in White

The story: Interestingly, the cover of my edition portrays a distant female figure dressed in black, not in white. I've yet to figure out why that artistic decision prevailed. The dark figure does, however, appear to blend in with the long shadows cast across the road, much like the dark shadows cast across lives by long-held secrets; almost no character escapes a shadowy tinge in this novel. Furthermore, numerous minor revelations and suspicions string together the narrative as one might expect in a novel published serially.

The Woman in White was a sensation novel, deliberately meant to shock the reader. Much of the story line developed from sensational news headlines of the day (forced incarceration in an insane asylum, poisonings, murdering for inheritance money, etc.). In his 1860 preface to the novel, Collins's entreats reviewers not to reveal the plot and spoil the reader's suspense. Obediently, I will avoid a plot summary for that very reason. Instead, I will discuss what makes the novel appealing, including its vivid and memorable characters.

Like Dickens's novels, The Woman in White is shrewdly plotted, and like any skillful mystery writer, Collins draws the reader in by liberally dispersing clues and foreshadowing. Admittedly, modern readers will more readily see through the sometimes thin veneers of these hints or suggestions, for we're accustomed to more sophisticated mysteries that have developed many similar themes (mistaken identity, secret relationships, fraud, international espionage) and that have perfected the art of misleading the reader with false clues and other narrative distractions. Part of the novel's charm, however, resides in watching Walter Hartwright investigate and plot without the aid of DNA testing or other modern technological conveniences.

And who is Walter Hartwright? Walter is the hero in love with Laura Fairlie, stepsister of Miriam Holcombe. Laura and Miriam, both having lost their parents, reside with their uncle Frederick Fairlie, a hilarious portrait of self-absorption, apathy, and cowardice. Laura, of course, is beautiful and meek and submissive. She is fair and blue eyed in contrast to the dark Miriam, who is a much more fascinating character with her intelligence, resourcefulness and keen insight into the human psyche. We meet Miriam and Laura through Walter, who has been commissioned to give them art lessons. It is Miriam whom Walter first encounters. He admires her "rare beauty of form" and her tall comely figure, complete with a waist which is "perfection in

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