Book description
Magdalen and her sister Norah, beloved daughters of Mr and Mrs
Vanstone, find themselves the victims of a catastrophic oversight. Their
father has neglected to change his will, and when the girls are suddenly
orphaned, their inheritance goes to their uncle. Now penniless, the
conventional Norah takes up a position as a governess, but the defiant
and tempestuous Magdalen cannot accept the loss of what is rightfully
hers and decides to do whatever she can to win it back. With the help of
cunning Captain Wragge, she concocts a scheme that involves disguise,
deceit and astonishing self-transformation. In this compelling,
labyrinthine story Wilkie Collins brilliantly demonstrates the gap
between justice and the law, and in the subversive Magdalen he portrays
one of the most exhilarating heroines of Victorian fiction.
Wilkie (William) Collins (1824-89) was a hugely successful and
popular crime, mystery and suspense writer. He wrote the first
full-length detective novels in English and set a mould for the genre
as shown in The Moonstone and 'The Woman in White'.
Mark Ford is a lecturer in English Literature at University College
London. His publications include the poetry collections Landlocked and
Soft Sift and he has also edited Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby
for Penguin Classics.
