No Name

“No Name,” by Wilkie Collins (1824-1889), a friend and oft-collaborator with Charles Dickens, is another splendid novel by a great novelist. Some scholars insist that Wilkie Collins was the man who invented the “detective stories.” I encourage readers – those who enjoy a good story told by a masterful writer - to purchase this volume and, indeed, all of Wilkie Collin’s novels. This is a good book with an attention-getting suspenseful drama, not as good as his “Moonstone” and “Lady in White,” or even “The Hunted Hotel,” all of which are superb dramas that begin with unusual episodes, but it is still good and an enjoyment to read. It is more of a legal and moral story, but it is suspenseful and attention-grapping and holding. The title “no name” describes two very nice girls who because of their parents’ “sin” are deprived of their name and legacy.The year is 1846 and the place England which had a law at that time that children of a couple who are not married to one another could not inherit from their parents. The law also stated that when someone marries his or her prior will loses its validity. The two girls in this story – one of whom is very strong-willed – were born while their father was married to another woman, but left her and lived with their mother. Their father is very rich. He left his estate in a will to his paramour and their two daughters. When he heard that his true wife died, he and his paramour rushed to marry. He died before he could write a new will. As a result of the antiquated English law, the marriage of their parents did not make the children legitimate and “the sins of the parents was visited upon their children,” they could not inherit. Under the law, the huge estate went to a man who hated the dead father and had been seeking revenge against him for what he considered a crime that he committed that affected him.The suspense in the drama focuses on what the two girls do and how their now penniless situation affects the proposed marriage of one of them, a marriage that was supposed to occur shortly.

Who is more cunning, I wonder, Becky Sharp or Magdalen Vanstone? Sure, "Vanity Fair" came out first, but there's a definite Thackerayesque flavour in Collins' work - for instance, "A Rogue's Life" somehow resembles "Barry Lyndon" in substance and style; moreover, in "No Name" Collins avails of a narrative device implemented in Thackeray's masterpiece - that of resorting to the correspondence among the characters in order to carry the plot swiftly plus delving into their minds. Still, whereas missives were ocassional in "Vanity Fair", presented only to fill holes in the characters' individual (therefore limited and biased) perspective and experience, so that the readers were, contrary to these characters, given a clear and complete view of the spectacle framed by the author, "No Name" is divided in eight scenes, with a section called 'Between the scenes; progress of the story through the post', attached in between them, obviously, which sections contain letters, affording Collins some relief from the task of recounting facts by allowing the characters to speak for themselves, offering important details that will bear on the story next.Another trait akin to both Magdalen Vanstone and Becky Sharp is their flair for mimicking people; yet, while the two lasses also share a strong determination, attended by an utter lack of scruples, to attain their object, their motives differ widely (Becky's was burning ambition to climb up the social ladder; Magdalen's, restitution of her family fortune).Now, there's a Brontënian streak in the episode at the Admiral Bartram's house - at any rate, the mistery behind the blockade of the Admiral's room door every night recalled, to my susceptible mind, the incidents at Mr. Rochester's manor in "Jane Eyre". Later on, I may add, Collins revisited the perplexing occurrence brought about by the peculiar condition afflicting the Admiral; just that, in "The Moonstone", the source of this condition happens to be artificial - that is, opium-induced.A final note, in "No Name" I found my absolute favourite villain in literature - Captain Wragge, for he openly admits that he's a swindler; however, in his own terms, that word means: 'a moral agriculturist; a man that cultivates the field of human sympathy'.What with Captain Wragge's constant upbraidings of his numskull wife on mere trifles, his highfalutin descantings on the art of deception, and his battle of wits against Mrs. Lecount, you shall rejoice this tale immensely.

Just three of the wonderful ingredients in which the author indulges in huge dollops. An intriguing novel and beautifully dramatised on Radio Four Extra recently, bringing its magical qualities to life. Favourite characters must be the incorrigible and delightfully corrupt Captain Wragge, splendidly portrayed by Jack May, with his resonant depths of voice and emotion. Reaching far into the realms of empathy was sweet and innocent Mrs Wragge, without whose loyal and adoring friendship, Madelelene would surely have sunk to depths of despair.Her selfless support defied a troubled and unfortunate personal affliction; yet utterly exemplifying the old adage of the Inner Soul.Norah, portrayed as a flimsy one dimensional opposite of her sister, remained in the background; irritatingly insipid and impressionable, easily influenced by the meddling old governess, and yet, nevertheless succeeded in scooping up the entire reason for Madaleine existence, in one fell swoop. Without doing more than batting her eyelashes occasionally at the appropriate person. Madeleine meanwhile, the star of the show, super feisty, fearless and far reaching, with a hunger for the bigger picture and an unquenchable curiosity of life, eventually receives her just deserts. Though not before time and tempest. And typically in a most unexpected and gratifying manner.Far and away the better of his more famous novels, brilliantly succeeding in magically conjuring up a bewildering array of emotions at every turn and at the drop of Captain Wragge's top hat.

I get the impression, from reading this book, that Wilkie Collins wasn't crazy about marriage as an institution and was a strong critic of 19th century moral values.He tells the tale of two sisters, Norah and Magdalen Vanstone, born into a comfortable West Country home with an expectation of a sizeable inheritance, only to discover, on their parents' sudden deaths, that they forgot to tie the knot and that their uncle and then cousin are heirs to the fortune, leaving Norah and Magdalen virtually destitute.The book is comical and engages the reader's sympathy with the two sisters, following their lives as they move out of what had been the family home, with their governess, Miss Garth. Wilkie Collins chooses to concentrate on the younger sister, Magdalen, who teams up with a dubious distant relative, Captain Wragge, and uses her talents as an actress to disguise herself as, and play, various characters, with the aim of wresting the money she believes is rightfully hers and Norah's, from first cousin Noel and later a family friend and possible relative, George Bartram. In seeking to achieve this she encounters a formidable and intelligent adversary in the shape of Noel Vanstone's Swiss housekeeper, Madame Virginie Lecomte.The plot twists and turns in several directions and keeps the reader guessing as to the outcome almost until the last page. I won't give away anything further except to say in the words of William Shakespeare, "all's well that ends well", and that the finale has something in common with that of Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre".Please read this book if you like to read thought-provoking satire, and an ingenious plot, particularly as it costs nothing to download this classic onto a kindle.

Like many people, I had only previously read The Moonstone and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, but thanks to an Amazon review, I decided to read this one. And what a treat! Two sisters, Norah and Magdalen, are orphaned suddenly in early adulthood. Because of a legal problem, the girls are left peniless, their inhertance going to a (already wealthy) relative. This is the story of the indomitable Magdalen, and her one-woman battle to regain what should belong to her and her sister from her thoroughly repulsive cousin.This is a big book, in every sense, with many twists and turns. There is romantic interest (of course), and the reader is kept hoping and wondering until the end. Altogether, I'm puzzled that the novel is not better known. Its rather dull title certainly does it no favours (compared to the author's better-known novels). However, the novel is very long, and Collins never uses one word where a full sentence will do, and had the story not been so absorbing, I'm not sure I would have stayed with it (hence the four stars). Also, the language can be very flowery at times, but then this is very much of the time at which the book was written.In conclusion, if you are a fairly fast reader, and want a really absorbing novel, then this may well be for you. It would make a great holiday read. Highly recommended.

Warning: This book contains excessive melodrama, improbable coincidence and unrealistic situations.Despite that, it's great fun to read, once you've got through the first part where Collins is so over the top with the sentiment that it falls into parody (which may have been its intention - there is a lot of humour in all his novels). The death of Mrs Vanstone and her newly born son reminded me of Oscar Wilde's comment on the death of Dicken's Little Nell "One would have to have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without dissolving into tears...of laughter."Once that's over though, it moves into a fast paced story as Magdalen and her confidence trickster ally Captain Wragge do battle with the equally scheming Mrs Lecount for the fortune. Collins is a great writer of suspense and each chapter puts one or other character at an advantage - a true "page turner".Collins isn't a great one for developing character - we don't really know much more about Magdalen at the end of the story than we do at the beginning. But despite these criticisms it's still far better than many modern thrillers, and as other reviewers have said would make an excellent TV series.

An engaging book that is difficult to put down. It starts with an interesting insight into the life of a well to-do family and merely hints at a hidden scandal. Suddenly, the book changes direction and throws the reader, and the family, into turmoil. The daughters' circumstances are dramatically changed, the family lifestyle destroyed. One daughter accepts her lot and makes the most of it, the other tries all she can, and enlists the help of other rogues, to correct the wrong she feels. Unfortunately, the law is clear and the daughters lose out through no fault of their own but due to the hidden scandal. Magdalen breaks the law so many times to try and recover the family fortune with the help of others. She is portrayed as the heroine. She is thwarted by Mrs Leconte, the housekeeper of the rightful beneficiary, who is portrayed as the evil adversary. Yet the law sees the roles reversed.A brilliantly twisting plot with clearly defined characters set in the genteel world of Victorian England and also slipping into the dark world of the rogues of the time. Read it if you like a crafted story of good versus evil, if you enjoy Victorian life, and if you like to see goodness triumph whilst scheming fails. If Magdalen, the main character, had not set such a bad example, I would have given 5 stars.