The RIP read that I finished right before the read-a-thon was The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins. If you are a fan of Collins or even of Dickens, you will probably like this one. It's one of his earlier novels, published serially three years before The Woman in White. It can be very sentimental in parts and, as you will find in many other Collins novels, it includes an examination of social issues -- in this case, the opinions of the era on birth and position. It also has a couple of really stellar characters worthy of Dickens -- the vicar Doctor Chennery and Uncle Joseph really stand out but most of the characters are interesting for one reason or another.
The "secret" will probably seem obvious to a modern reader fairly early on even though it isn't actually revealed until right near the end. And, as has happened many times before, Oxford manages to give it away right on the back of the book. So if you have this version, try and avoid looking at the back before you start or while you're reading. For me, this means always setting the book down face-up. Luckily, this version has a really beautiful cover!
What makes this an RIP read? A gloomy, derelict "castle" (complete with ghost) and a woman driven mad by a secret that she is forced to keep for years.
Loving this view of a different era,
K
I have The Woman in White waiting very patiently on my TBR shelf, so I've yet to read anything by Mr Collins.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this Collins' yet, and I'm a big fan of all I've read of his, so I must get my hands on this one!
ReplyDeleteTracy - One day you will get to it! I have authors like that on my shelves too (poor Penelope Lively).
ReplyDeleteTrisha - I hope you like it! It's not as good as The Woman in White or The Moonstone and definitely doesn't hold a candle to Armadale (what could?) but I think that's because this was an earlier work. You can see how he ended up going forward to Armadale and No Name and others.
Argh! It drives me crazy when publishers spoil books. My copy of THE RETURN OF THE KING did the exact same thing in its little introduction. I don't care if the resolution is obvious; I want to come upon it myself!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness the front cover is so pretty (and so spoiler-free).
I loved the woman in white but was going to read some other Collins before this one. I love love the cover of this one!
ReplyDeleteMemory - It's just awful. They choose one word to describe someone that gives everything away. I mean, it wasn't such a big secret but the secret is kind of the point of the book!
ReplyDeleteJessica - This isn't one of Collins' best books but it was still good. I highly recommend Armadale. It's my favorite!
I have not read any Wilkie Collins, but I sure do want to after seeing a few reviews of the books! Must check these out!
ReplyDeleteTif - Just a few years ago, I had never even heard of him! I think it might have been when I read The Thirteenth Tale and it mentioned many of the classic gothic novels and I realized I had never read most of them. That's when I started reading books like The Woman in White and Lady Audley's Secret. They've turned out to be some of my favorites!
ReplyDeleteI've got The Thirteenth Tale on my shelf too! My goodness, I need to get more reading in, especially if I keep adding books to my list! :)
ReplyDeleteTif - The Thirteenth Tale had book lovers as main characters and it was definitely contagious. Kind of like book blogs ...
ReplyDeleteLOL! This is so true! Need to get to this book soon!
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