The Woman In White

As the inscription on his tombstone reveals, Wilkie Collins wanted to be remembered as the “author of The Woman in White,” for it was this novel that secured his reputation during his lifetime. The novel begins with a drawing teacher’s eerie late-night encounter with a mysterious woman in white, and then follows his love for Laura Fairlie, a young woman who is falsely incarcerated in an asylum by her husband, Sir Percival Glyde, and his sinister accomplice, Count Fosco. This edition returns to the original text that galvanized England when it was published in serial form in All the Year Round magazine in 1860. Three different prefaces Collins wrote for the novel, as well as two of his essays on the book’s composition, are reprinted, along with nine illustrations. The appendices include contemporary reviews, along with essays on lunacy, asylums, mesmerism, and the rights of women.

A fascinating look at the partnership of artist James McNeill Whistler and his chief model, Joanna Hiffernan, and the iconic works of art resulting from their life together “[A] lavish volume. . . . Illuminating. . . . MacDonald’s deep research has . . . unearthed important new facts.”—Gioia Diliberto, Wall Street Journal In 1860 James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) and Joanna Hiffernan (1839–1886) met and began a significant professional and personal relationship. Hiffernan posed as a model for many of Whistler’s works, including his controversial Symphony in White paintings, a trilogy that fascinated and challenged viewers with its complex associations with sex and morality, class and fashion, academic and realist art, Victorian popular fiction, aestheticism and spiritualism. This luxuriously illustrated volume provides the first comprehensive account of Hiffernan’s partnership with Whistler throughout the 1860s and 1870s—a period when Whistler was forging a reputation as one of the most innovative and influential artists of his generation. A series of essays discusses how Hiffernan and Whistler overturned artistic conventions and sheds light on their interactions with contemporaries, including Gustave Courbet, for whom she also modeled. Packed with new insights into the creation, marketing, and cultural context of Whistler’s iconic works, this study also traces their resonance for his fellow artists, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edgar Degas, John Singer Sargent, and Gustav Klimt.

"Marian and her sister Laura live a quiet life under their uncle's guardianship until Laura's marriage to Sir Percival Glyde. Sir Percival is a man of many secrets. Hence, Marian and the girls' drawing master, Walter, have to turn detective in order to work out what is going on, and to protect Laura from a fatal plot"--NoveList.

Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.

ePub Copyright © 2017 Classic Book Series

Often considered one of the first mystery novels, The Woman In White follows protagonist Walter Hartright, an art teacher, as he has a mysterious late night encounter on a London street with a lost woman, dressed all in white, who he later finds out had escaped from an asylum. The figure of this woman and the words they exchanged during their meeting come to haunt Walter, even as he accepts a job at Limmeridge House outside of London to instruct heiress Laura Farlie in art. Walter soon recognizes the astonishing resemblance between Laura and The Woman In White, and finds out that the mystery woman also used to live near Limmeridge and has connections to the Farlie family. You'll have to read further to see how the story progresses, but the plot is quite complex, twisting and turning with elements of unrequited love, unhappy marriages, murder plots and overall very shady dealings.The Woman in White famously opens with Walter Hartright's eerie encounter on a moonlit London road. Engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie, Walter is drawn into the sinister intrigues of Sir Percival Glyde and his "charming" friend Count Fosco, who has a taste for white mice, vanilla bonbons and poison. Pursuing questions of identity and insanity along the paths and corridors of English country houses and the madhouse, The Woman in White is the first and most influential of the Victorian genre that combined Gothic horror with psychological realism.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1865.

Wilkie Collins was an English novelist, playwright, and short story writer. The Woman in White famously opens with Walter Hartright's eerie encounter on a moonlit London road. Engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie, Walter becomes embroiled in the sinister intrigues of Sir Percival Glyde and his 'charming' friend Count Fosco, who has a taste for white mice, vanilla bonbons, and poison. Pursuing questions of identity and insanity along the paths and corridors of English country houses and the madhouse, The Woman in White is the first and most influential of the Victorian genre that combined Gothic horror with psychological realism.

Collins' disturbing tale of deceit and trickery, set against a backdrop of Victorian madness and melodrama, has been captured in ths compelling stage version. Walter Hartright, the drawing teacher, re-tells the fascinating story of the sisters Laura and Marian, and of the strange appearance of the Woman in White...

The events described in the novel take place in the 1850s in England. A young painter from London, Walter Hartright, secures a position as an art teacher at Limmeridge House in Cumberland, which belongs to Frederick Fairlie. On a hot summer night prior to his departure, Walter meets a very strange woman on the empty street, who is dressed in a completely white dress. The woman in white shows a sudden agitation when Walter explains about his new job, but also speaks with love about Mrs. Fairlie, the late owner of Limmeridge House. Walter helps the strange woman to catch a cab, only to encounter two men looking for a "woman in white," who has escaped from a mental asylum. Upon his arrival at Limmeridge, Walter meets those residing there: Marian Halcombe, a daughter of the late Mrs. Fairlie from her first marriage, her sister Laura Fairlie, and Laura's bachelor uncle, Frederick Fairlie. Walter tells Marian about the strange woman he met in London. Intrigued, Marian finds mention of a girl named Anne Catherick in her mother's letters. Mrs. Fairlie became attached to the little Anne because of her resemblance to Laura, and Anne in her turn became attached to Mrs. Fairlie. Meanwhile, Laura and Walter fall in love, but Walter is devastated to learn that Laura is already engaged to Sir Percival Glyde, the owner of Blackwater Park in Hampshire, a wealthy and respected person. The engagement was arranged at the request of Laura's father prior to his death, and she therefore considers herself bound to honor it, despite her love for Walter, and increasing sinister hints about Sir Percival, which suggest he had some connection to Anne Catherick, and may have been responsible for placing her in the asylum. Because of his grief and love for Laura, Walter leaves Limmeridge and departs for Central America.

The Woman in White In one of the first detective thrillers written in English, Wilkie Collins' sensational mystery revolves around lovers Walter and Laura. Unfortunately, Laura has promised her father that she would marry Sir Percival Glyde. As a result, Marian resolves to forget his love and leave Limmeridge. Laura and Glyde marry and travel to Italy for six months while Walter joins an expedition to Honduras. But Laura soon discovers that Glyde is in financial difficulty and he bullies her into signing a document that allows him to use her marriage settlement of £20,000. What she doesn't know, is that he has also arranged to switch the identity of Laura with a terminally-ill woman in an attempt to obtain even more money. TITLE: The Woman in White AUTHOR: Wilkie Collins PUBLISHER: Pearl Necklace Books LENGTH: 518 Pages