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laurieb755 's review for:
Miss or Mrs?/ The Haunted Hotel/ The Guilty River
by Wilkie Collins
Wilkie is (was) a pre-eminant Victorian author. I've read two of his best known books (Moonstone and Woman in White and a runner-up, No Name. He is a master storyteller and these three novellas did him justice. I have to wonder, though, if the sometimes seeming absurdity of the plots were actually based on occurrences in the news or even among Collins' own social set.
This set of novellas had me thinking of the Backfields and other Brits who abounded during Churchill's era. They led lives that were, according to the books, experiments in social, moral and physical pursuits. In fact, as I think about it Collins' stories are surely tamer! His imagination crafted plots that twist and turn on social mores, some of which seem rather tame by today's standards. So plots of these three stories –
Mis or Mrs – A young woman and her cousin secretly marry so that she can escape being wed to an older man (who turns out to have a shady background.)
The Haunted Hotel – A jilted woman and the family of the man who jilted her, wind up in Venice where her ex-suitor was murdered. Their connections (extra sensory perceptions) to the ex were strong enough to solve his murder.
The Guilty River – A young man returns to England to inherit his estate and kindles a love for a former childhood friend of lower social rank.
All three stories have happy endings, in fact marriages, where the culprits were vanquished. The couples also displayed amazing patience in dealing with tie and situations. Now I'm going to fast forward in time from the 1890s to the future of a Verner Vinge novel!
This set of novellas had me thinking of the Backfields and other Brits who abounded during Churchill's era. They led lives that were, according to the books, experiments in social, moral and physical pursuits. In fact, as I think about it Collins' stories are surely tamer! His imagination crafted plots that twist and turn on social mores, some of which seem rather tame by today's standards. So plots of these three stories –
Mis or Mrs – A young woman and her cousin secretly marry so that she can escape being wed to an older man (who turns out to have a shady background.)
The Haunted Hotel – A jilted woman and the family of the man who jilted her, wind up in Venice where her ex-suitor was murdered. Their connections (extra sensory perceptions) to the ex were strong enough to solve his murder.
The Guilty River – A young man returns to England to inherit his estate and kindles a love for a former childhood friend of lower social rank.
All three stories have happy endings, in fact marriages, where the culprits were vanquished. The couples also displayed amazing patience in dealing with tie and situations. Now I'm going to fast forward in time from the 1890s to the future of a Verner Vinge novel!