No Name (Penguin Classics)

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It’s many years since I read Collins’ two most famous books, The Moonstone and The Woman in White, neither of which became a favourite. The story follows the unfair situation of two sisters left orphaned by the sudden death of their parents and how they take the fateful news that leave them destitute of their parents' fortune. A sanguine, disappointed and much more conventional Norah resigns herself to her fate and takes up a position as governess to support herself. I'd like to say it won't be so long before the next one, but I might be lying to myself, if only because he is one of so many I enjoy. But a furious and defiant Magdalen refuses to accept the loss of what she knows is rightfully hers and her sisters.

Magdalen is an unconventional Victorian woman, but a true Wilkie Collins heroine: a strong and brave woman who defies gender roles and sets out to save the day. Her character had such colour and vibrancy so that the connection readers feel with her is instantaneous. Since that time I’ve read several of his shorter novels and the other three of his lengthier ones—No Name, Armadale, The Woman in White. Hay dos razones por las que 'Sin nombre' no ha terminado de cuajar conmigo, la primera, el empeño detectivesco de Collins que personalmente me abruma. I enjoyed my first reading of the story, but it was on the second reading of it that I decided it's not only my favourite Wilkie Collins novel, but my favourite novel of all and Wlkie Collins has now become my favourite author.There is an interesting introduction in my Oxford World’s Classic edition, by Virginia Blain, Associate Professor in English at Macquarie University in Sydney. But OK, so he’s no Dickens, and his characters’ sole obsession is with acquiring and hoarding money.

Admiring the integrity of Norah and Captain Kirke, she confesses her disreputable past to him and affirms that she will live a life worthy of him henceforth. 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. Scene One begins in 1846, at Combe-Raven in West Somerset, the country residence of the wealthy Vanstone family: Andrew Vanstone, his wife, and their two daughters.Much like Dickens, Collins constructs a novel with engaging and vivid characters, twist and turns, and suspense as we head toward the finish line. Magdalen disguises herself as Miss Garth and goes into town where she sees Norah suffering as a governess.