She seems upset, and Walter offers to accompany her. He decides to walk back home across the heath, where a young woman dressed entirely in white stops him to ask for directions to London. On the evening before his departure, Walter visits his mother and sister in Hampstead Heath.

“This is the story of what a Woman’s patience can endure and what a Man’s resolution can achieve.”Īrtist Walter Hartright takes a position as drawing master for two young ladies at Limmeridge House, a large estate in the Lake District in the north of England.

For many years, Collins couldn’t decide whether to become a painter or a writer.

Collins is an outstanding stylist and a sensitive psychological observer.

All elements of the novel have dramatic function and are essential to the denouement of the plot.

He maintains tension throughout a complex storyline.

The Woman in White has critical undertones, in particular concerning the rights of women in Victorian times and the limitations of class.

Collins was a close friend and collaborator of Charles Dickens.

The Woman in White’s first print run sold out on the day of publication.

The novel made Collins one of the highest-paid authors of his time.

Laura’s half-sister Marian and their drawing master Walter Hartleigh set about restoring Laura to her rightful place. With the help of the cunning Count Fosco, Sir Percival stages Laura’s death to get her money.

Beautiful and wealthy Laura Fairlie is married to fortune-hunting Sir Percival Glyde.It is one of the first examples of the sensation novel – a hugely popular genre of the 19th century. The Woman in White was Wilkie Collins’s first and most notable literary success.Yet The Woman in White is more than just a sensation novel – its socio-critical undertones question the restrictions Victorian society placed on woman and the limitations the 19th-century class system imposed on them. The combination of a masterfully constructed storyline and a diverse set of characters entertains and keeps the reader in suspense.

It made Collins a rich man overnight and remains to this day one of his best-known and most popular novels. With The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins created one of the finest examples of the sensation novel – a hugely popular genre of the 19th century. In order to restore his love’s stolen identity, the young drawing master Walter Hartright turns master detective.