Tag Archives: Wilkie Collins

Sarah Waters, “Fingersmith”

Posted on February 22, 2011 by carolwallace

“‘If you might only hear yourself! Terrible plots? Laughing villains? Stolen fortunes and girls made out to be mad? The stuff of lurid fiction! We have a name for your disease. We call it a hyper-aesthetic one. You have been … Continue reading →

Posted in contemporary fiction, historical fiction, Victoriana | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Wilkie Collins, “The Black Robe”

Posted on April 4, 2010 by carolwallace

Wilkie Collins is a second-tier writer. Nothing wrong with that — I’ve gotten hours of entertainment from The Moonstone and The Woman in White. Just that a third reading of his novels probably wouldn’t net you much more than you’d … Continue reading →

Posted in classic | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Kate Summerscale, “The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher”

Posted on December 31, 2008 by carolwallace

Here’s the subtitle, too: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective. Now here’s the final wonderful paragraph: “Perhaps this is the purpose of detective investigations, real and fictional — to transform sensation, horror and grief into … Continue reading →

Posted in anglophilia, mystery, nonfiction, Victoriana | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment