The Woman in White

By: Wilkie Collins

Narrated by: various

When Walter Hartright encounters the "solitary figure of a woman, dressed from head to foot in white garments" on a lonely road, he is haunted by her. He falls in love with his employer's niece, Laura, because she resembles the mysterious woman. Laura, however, is betrothed to the evil Sir Percival, who wishes to marry her for her money. The woman in white, it turns out, is Anne Catherick, who was confined in an asylum by the evil Sir Percival because she knew a devastating secret about him. Now he is determined to destroy Anne, disguise Laura as Anne and confine her, and obtain all of her money. The only one who can stop him is the courageous Marian Halcombe, Laura's half-sister.

A tremendous success when it was first published in 1860, The Woman in White still enthralls over a century later.

©1987 JimCin Recordings (P)1987 JimCin Recordings

An outstanding timeless pleasure.

A treat to read a clever, civilized tale that holds your attention and rewards the reader. It is amazing that this adventure is over a century old and holds up better than most of todays offerings.

The Woman In White

This is the most wonderful presentation of a fascinating story. The plot is intricate and beautifully brought to a conclusion. The readers are simply marvellous. To listen to them all in roles of the colourful characters was a pure joy. An absolute thrill. Wilkie Collins writes with such clarity without wasting a word. Beautifully musical sentences. Lots of fun and a glimpse into an intriguing historical era. Wilkie Collins was a bon vivant and his writing reflects his thirst for life. Witty and clever writing. One of the best mysteries I have read. Great characters and I loved the settings of the action. Reading this has made me want to explore all his other stories and read his letters and biography. There is a Wilkie Collins Society in London which I will join when I finish reading and listening to all his works. I also listened to a shorter story called A Rogue's Life. This was great fun and very tongue in cheek. Again Collins creates a thrilling and symmetrical plot. When I listened to The Woman in White I also bought the book just so I could read the superb language he creates. There is not a single dull moment in this book. I recommend this famous novel to you. Next I am going to listen to and read The Moonstone. Wilkie Collins conveys tension and intrigue in a way that simply grips the reader. He sets scenes to a point where the reader feels totally immersed in his world. He is interesting in the way he treats his women too. The reader sees the sexism of the Age but also feels that Collins himself was not one to stereotype women to the extent that one may see in Dickens' characters. Collins creates somewhat more rounded characters. His virtuous characters are not quite as sickly as those Dickens creates. His villains are really wicked and conniving to an engaging and thrilling extent. Collins takes the reader on a ride that one wishes would never end but which forces one to rush enthusiastically to the conclusion. Brilliant presentation of a gem!

A little docile

Because this book was written in another time, the women were spineless and the story a little bland. The characters were victims which was a little frustrating. It was an "okay" listen.

The Woman in White (Unabridged)

As a fan of historical novels (e.g., The Winthrop Woman) that provide believable heroines it's difficult to believe that I had not read this one. The suspense, the quality of writing and knowing that this book was written so very long ago all blended together to provide a book that was difficult to put down. The narrators of this particular recording contributed to it's pleasure by instilling a sense of listening in on the past that was thoroughly enjoyable!

I liked this book

Wasnt the best ive read but not too bad. I was dissapointed with the narration as the voices change and its confusing but pretty good story.

pleasantly and surprisingly captures you

i worry about longer books if they are lots of blah blah and filler... but this was quite a tale of the victorian world, and lots of twists and turns... started a little slow but picked up quite swiftly. it pulls you in, and if you appreciate the mystery agatha chrystie/inspector pitt type stuff, you are in for a treat.

a great old title

For a book that was written in the 1800's, it is very well done. I liked the method of reading with different narrators from different points of view. I liked the mystery and the setting. On the downside, the last quarter of the book was very anti-climatic. It was way too long of a book to end so slowly. Still, the rest was worth the listen.

Classic Victorian Mystery

Listening to this audiobook was the reason I joined Audible. The strength of this is the narration which is incredibly well done. I loved the fact that they had different readers for different parts as it totally brought the characters to life! Yes, as others have noted, this can be a bit wordy, but that's simply a reflection of the style of the times. Writers in the Victorian era never used 10 words when 20 would do.
Wilkie Collins was ahead of his time not only when it came to writing well-plotted mystery; but, like Austen, Dickens and others, he was a keen social observer and his characters, especially the women, reflect their relative place in society. The women characters may seem easily manipulated to us today, but their depiction by Wilkie is an accurate reflection of the times in which they lived.
Basically, if you couldn't care less about the genre and the social context in which it was written, how about just a good story, well-told and SUPERBLY narrated? If that's what you're after, then this one is for you.

Wonderful

This made our long, long, ten hour car trip just fly but. Whole family loved it. We especially liked how the various sections were read by different characters. Made it seem very real, even if it was written a long time ago. Five stars from a car full of might have been bored otherwise people!!

A Potboiler

"The Woman in White" provides what those of us who love long 19th century novels crave: rich characterizations and detailed descriptions of social relations, daily life and moral concerns of that era. I liked this precursor of modern mystery novels more than I like modern mysteries, which seem thin by comparison.

On the other hand, "The Woman in White" suffers from the standard bugaboos of the serialized Victorian novel... too many words, bizarre plot contortions, ridiculous coincidences, suspense which becomes tiresome rather than intriguing and of course, a happy ending.

While it's been some years since I read "The Moonstone," I liked it enough to read it twice. "The Woman in White" is not as good.

"The Woman in White" is divided into sections written from the points of view of different characters, each read by a different actor. Unfortunately two or three of the sections are read very poorly by an unskilled actor, but the rest are fine.