Customer Reviews
Page turner but cop-out ending - By: David Morley, 26 May 2008 
I was amazed at how quickly I whizzed thorough this novel's 610 pages. Wilkie Collins' style is much easier to read than Dickens' & his characters appear far more believable.
There were two things in this book that stopped me giving it 5 stars. Firstly, the lead character Magdalen is actuallly rather underwritten. At the start you get the impression you're gonig to get a dynamic character fighting for her lost inheritance but as the novel progresses she has these dull guilt trips whenever she gets near her prize. Instead the best characters are her accomplice Captain Wragge & their enemy Mrs Lecount. Whenever these two were part of the story the pages of the novel came alive. Secondly the end of the novel is a big dissapointment. Without giving anything away it things are too quickly resolved, there is a big 'it just so happens' & I felt that the Magadelen we had so much faith in at the start of the novel had turned into a a dull, meek character. Becky Sharp turns out to be Amelia, if you like. I think after the two years she'd been through she'd have had more about her.
Thank you to those who wrote good reviews - By: H. Lacroix, 23 Apr 2008 I bought it because of the good reviews the book had & also because at times it is nice to read quality prose of the Victorian era. Those who say this is as good or maybe better than the Woman in white are totallly right. It is a very modern book in the way that it describes the frustrated feelings of a very young woman who finds herself & her sister cheated out of a legacy, & who is determined not to take it lying down. An unusual decision for a female of the period & one that makes the book well worth reading.The unsavoury captain Wragge who is going to help her regain what she sees as her rightful inheritance is certainly one of the best crooks & swindlers ever drawn in a book. It is a challlenge to make such a wretch appealing to the reader.
I won't give the book 5 stars because as always, Collins repeats himself quite a lot & slows us down but it is nevertheless a thoroughly enjoyable read, whose elegant prose is a joy to see.
Wonderfully Refreshing - By: Shouna Falconer, 12 Feb 2008 
I love alll of this author's "big 4" books, but this is my favourite. The heroine is so refreshingly different from most Victorian women in novels & would not look out of place in our time. An antidote to Laura in "The Woman In White". With an exciting plot & intriguing characters, this book is a must-read.
Marvellous - By: Karen, 05 May 2006 This is an excellent book - I agree with alll the other reviewers apart from one thing - I thought the happy ending was too contrived, but as that only took 2 pages out of 600, I'm not worried! An easy yet exciting book to read, which kept my interest alll the way.
Unusual, gripping and fascinating - read this book! - By: Meerkat, 08 Jun 2005 This is a very good book - if you enjoy a leisurely stroll through the past with an excellent cast of characters & a cracking good plot. Collins was a champion of the under-dog in a much less sentimental way than his friend, Dickens, & in this story he takes on the establishment over the laws on illegitimacy & inheritance. The heroines are disinherited through no fault of their own - & Collins clearly disapproves of visiting the crime of the parents on to innocent children. The older sister accepts her fate & sets out to earn her living, the younger sister does the opposite.
What I found remarkable in this book is that the main character, Magdalen, although defying convention, is entirely bound by it. She cannot do anything on her own as a woman, she needs a man to support, guide & assist her. She is almost absolutely powerless to act on her own behalf in her society & her only real power is her sex appeal, which she uses remorselessly to marry for revenge. However, everything she does, alll her plotting, scheming & subterfuge, gets her absolutely nowhere. She does not succeed in getting back the inheritance she & her sister were cheated out of. Nor does Collins alllow his characters any of those amazing leaps of luck, logic or circumstance that aid so many other heroes & heroines in such an unlikely way in so many other novels.
I disagree with Virginia Blain who wrote the introduction. I do believe Magdalen is entitled to happiness at the end of the novel. What she does may have been utterly shocking to a Victorian reader, but it alll reads as entirely plausible & understandable to a modern reader. She suffers quite enough to satisfy even the most hard hearted of Victorian readers & I was delighted when she achieved happiness almost by accident at the end of the novel.The ending was not a 'cop out', it was perfect.
As other reviewers have said, this novel would make a cracking costume drama - where are you, BBC/ITV?!
