Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Law and The Lady – Wilkie Collins

Or the best possible holiday reading. I’ve had a soft spot for Wilkie Collins for a long time now, indeed since finding a Victorian set (cheap green cloth covers and an aroma of mildew) lurking in our old house. I ran out of things to read and hit the Collins and I’ve read him on and off ever since. As an aside most the books went when the house did, but for some reason –and I’m assuming it’s because I didn’t put it back where it was meant to go – Dad still has ‘The Law and The Lady’, which also explains why it seemed slightly familiar.

It is now my firm intention to include Wilkie Collins in my packing any time I’m away for more than a few days. ‘The Law and The Lady’ has plot holes aplenty but I don’t care – it’s a ripping good read. It’s a good old fashioned story of girl meeting boy, marrying him then finding he was accused of poisoning his first wife. Boy abandons girl and she dedicates her life to proving his innocence. To do this she takes on her mother in law, the most startlingly un-politically correct insane cripple and his equally grotesque cohort, the law, and a woman chasing major. She travels the length and breadth not only of the country but the continent, refuses to listen to advice or reason, never gives up on her (frankly unworthy) husband and is in every way a pretty good heroine.

This is what I loved about Collins when I was in my teens and it’s what I love about him now. The hapless husband is a poor kind of a creature who Collins wastes very little time on, all his attention goes into Valeria – heroine and narrator, to Sara the Ill - fated first wife, and the supporting cast of improbable players that make the book such a page turner. It was a revelation then, and it still makes me wonder how his heroines went down in the 1870’s. Were they scandalous? Inspirational? Plausible?

I found them inspirational – far more fun than Dickens as well, no offence to Dickens fans, I like him too, but Collins adds an element of what I can only describe as high camp which I’ve never been able to resist. More importantly though he mixes it with remarkably strong women wronged by law and society and then brings them out triumphantly on top. It’s telling that the accused murderer in this book – the only character who can really know for sure he’s an innocent man, is yet content to accept an ambiguous verdict (and indeed behave like a fairly guilty man). It’s his wife who shows ingenuity, intelligence, bravery and determination, his wife who risks her reputation to save his, and his wife who succeeds where all the men have failed.

It’s a pacy and surprisingly fresh read. I can’t say modern because a contemporary writer wouldn’t get away with Miserrimus Dexter, and actually the only way I can think to put it is to say that if Dan Brown could write he’d write like this. I also got the feeling that this was the sort of things Wilkie dashed off to pay the bills with, which I also think has a direct relationship with how readable it feels today, ‘The Woman in White’, or ‘The Moonstone’ are better written but harder reading if you’re not really a fan of nineteenth century fiction... Now – off to amazon to make a comprehensive Collins list, and perhaps time to dust down ‘Armadale’ and give it another go.

10 comments:

  1. Ooh, 19th century fiction -- I adore! I will admit that it was because of The Thirteenth Tale that I was introduced to The Woman in White and have it on my shelf to read soon. Very excited to read your post on this, and it has reminded me that I must pick up some Wilkie Collins. Thanks!

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  2. Sounds great! I love Collins but have not read this one and now you have made me want to very much. Thanks!

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  3. Definitely give Armadale another go -- wonderful book!

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  4. I do like Collins but I had never even heard of this one before reading your lovely review - thanks indeed for sharing!

    Have a happy Thursday

    Hannah

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  5. Great review! Yes, Wilkie Collins is definitely 19th century trash and his novels wouldn't win any prizes, but that doesn't make them any the less excellent and totally addictive! I read a couple of Collins novels last winter and would love to read some more this winter. Have you read No Name? I thought that was brilliant and I much preferred it to The Moonstone, whose big plot twist I saw coming from page 1.

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  6. I love him when he's at his trashiest, and when he's pushing a sort of proto feminist agenda. No Name was the first novel I bought when I started university and has happy memories attached to it!

    I got about a third the way through Armadale and was enjoying it but neglected it for a while and now think I'd have to start again which is a bit daunting...

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  7. I think Collins probably liked women more than Dickens did

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  8. I love Wilkie Collins and ration him out--about a novel a year. This isn't one of his very best, but it's still really good. He creates wonderful characters--women especially. Valeria is great and I'm not entirely sure Eustace deserved her. Armadale is my favorite. I'm hoping to read No Name this fall.

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  9. I love Wilkie & TL&TL is one of my favourite reading memories. I agree with you about Wilkie & women. He understood & liked women more than Dickens, I think, although I love Dickens too. Wilkie's raffish private life definitely feeds into the books. I have a book of his novellas to read soon. Miss or Mrs?, The Haunted Hotel & The Guilty River. Just reprinted by OUP. Armadale is wonderful too, I hope you enjoy it.

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