Skip to main content

Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Woman in White

Wilkie Collins

finished March 28, 2016

"Some of us rush through life, and some of us saunter through life.  Mrs. Vesey SAT through life." p 31

"Our capacity of appreciating the beauties of the earth we live on is, in truth, one of the civilized accomplishments which we all learn as Art." 36

"No sensible man ever engages, unprepared, in a fencing match of words with a woman."

"Women can resist a man's love, a man's fame, a man's person appearance, and a man's money, but they cannot resist a man's tongue when he knows how to talk to them." 180

"Men little know when they say hard things to us how well we remember them, and how much harm they do us."

Mr Fairlie--the ultimate simpering hypochondriac--on being visited on an important matter by his lawyer:  "Louis, do you think he would go away if I gave him five shillings?"

Solomon in all his glory was Solomon with the elements of the contemptible lurking in every fold of his robes and every corner of his palace. 375

Dorcas Society--women making clothes for the poor.

"The best men are not consistent in good, why should the worst men be consistent in evil." 391

Ann Catherick buried next to Laura's mother--accidentally as Laura Fairlie--in an ironic fulfillment of Ann Catherick's most ardent wish.

Great lines on the power of chemistry beginning on page 430

Fantastic, cheering ending--This would make a terrific Masterpiece Theatre show--surprised they haven't done it

*****  Terrific novel.  It's Victorian, so it's leisurely, but Count Fosco is a great character and so is Marian Holcombe.  


https://goo.gl/y8j0mv

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin . . . finished

 Follows Sadie and Sam (Mazer) from childhood to mid-thirties when both are feeling old and a bit out of it in the gaming world.  Characters are well-rounded, develop throughout the novel in interesting way.  Plot is involved but sensible.  Not a single, "Oh, come on!" moment.  The book could have been faster paced. Odd, since the main topic is video games which are not for their speed of engagement and Gabrielle Zevin clearly knows her video games. Recommended by Michael Connelly in an interview.  He also has Bosch pick up the book in his novel, Resurrection Walk, as Bosch tails a possible witness to a crime as she moves through a bookstore. Sadie and Sam do not get together at the end, which is good.   Marx killed by homophobic nutcase who really wants to kill Sam, but Sam isn't there. Marx is father of Sadie's child. 

The Franchise Affair, Josephine Tey--opening pages

Blair, a lawyer in Milford, gets a strange call.  His practice is wills and similar--nothing criminal.  A woman tells him that Scotland Yard is accusing her of abduction and implores him to come out to help her, even if later on he passes the case to someone else.  The woman says she has called him because he is "her type," meaning respectable and conservative.  He agrees.