No Name (Penguin Classics)

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Set in mid nineteenth century England, No Name is a highly dramatic story of revenge to reclaim lost family fortune. The novel is divided into 8 scenes, each one of them clearly separated, taking place in different settings and with several characters who cross the path of the brave Magdalen Vanstone.

Of his novels, Collins is best remembered for The Woman in White (1859), No Name (1862), Armadale (1866) and The Moonstone (1868). In fact, it's the only book I've read twice in the same year, I loved it that much and it further encouraged me to read more Wilkie Collins stories (Hide and Seek, The Dead Secret, Basil, After Dark and The Queen of Hearts). She is then detected in her spying by the Admiral’s loyal retainer Mazey, but allowed to escape from the estate next morning. Eventually she locates it by following Admiral Bartram as he sleepwalks, but she is discovered and secretly leaves the house before she can be discharged for being a thief.Captain Wragge is a terrific character, and I loved the relationship he developed with his 'niece', and hugely enjoyed their plotting against the dastardly Lecount and her miserly master, but, i felt the story went downhill when Madylen and Wragge went their seperate ways. As often the case with a Collins novel, No Name takes on various staples of the author: relevant themes and key moral issues of his day in a serialized format. Much like Dickens, Collins constructs a novel with engaging and vivid characters, twist and turns, and suspense as we head toward the finish line. And, as with other Collins’ works, No Name is a deep, complicated, intriguing, suspenseful novel despite its hefty length (over seven hundred pages).

Actresses moved round from one town to another, unsupervised, un-chaperoned, in the company of single and married men – just as Magdalene does with Wragge and his troupe. Norah's and Magdalen's illegitimacy in law and their loss of social status and inheritance rights are all entirely believable. While the submissive Norah follows a path of duty and hardship as a governess, her high-spirited and rebellious younger sister has made other decisions. Collins was critical of the institution of marriage and never married; he split his time between Caroline Graves except for a 2 year separation, and his common law wife Martha Rudd with whom he had 3 children. From the so different Vanstone Sisters to the sneaky Mr Wraggle or the cunning Mrs Lecount (what a clash of titans!His first serious novel Basil (1852) is the strongest part of that claim, which he reinforced with The Woman in White (1860) which became an instant best-seller and his best known work. Determined to regain her rightful inheritance at any cost, Magdalen uses her unconventional beauty and dramatic talent in recklessly pursuing her revenge. Penril locates Michael Vanstone, who has inherited all his brother’s wealth and refuses to help Magdalen and Norah.