No Name (Penguin Classics)

Product Information

Collins completed the manuscript of No Name on 24 December 1862, and a three volume edition was published a week later on 31 December 1862 by Sampson Low. Yet another commendable quality is the consideration Collins’ story raised about moral justice and the cost of self- vindication. The current Mr and Mrs lived together as husband and wife, finally made legal when the first wife died. Slightly Foxed introduces its readers to books that are no longer new and fashionable but have lasting appeal. However, everything she does, all her plotting, scheming and subterfuge, gets her absolutely nowhere.

Mrs Lecount persuades Vanstone that his life is in danger, then bullies him into making a new will, with herself as a substantial beneficiary. He is studied widely; new film, television, and radio versions of some of his books have been made; and all of his letters have been published. Everything in the Vanstone household is just tickety boo until a) father dear is killed in a train crash and b) mama dear dies in childbirth so c) their two lovely daughters are orphaned and there are complications whereby the estate is inherited by the estranged older brother who couldn't give a monkey's about the two lovely sisters so what are they to do? b) Take a cabriolet to King's Cross and consort her saucy wares in that notorious environs, become the reknowned consort of the vile and famous, and conclude by wielding unfathomable power behind the scenes in the highest circles, enabling her to reach down and crush the evil estranged brother like an ant?Born into the family of painter William Collins in London, he lived with his family in Italy and France as a child and learned French and Italian. I could probably still have squeezed some enjoyment out of that if only it hadn’t been so unnecessarily long!

You can unsubscribe from our list at any point by changing your preferences, or contacting us directly. This book started off beautifully; the Vanstone family captured my interest, the injustice of the disinheritance of the girls, and Madylen's sparky determination to right the wrongs that are visited on her family are compelling. You never cease to amaze me with your writing and uncanny ability to suck me into your books which look to be a million pages, but read as if they are a few hundred. Interestingly, while Magdalen's quest to recover her fortune by any means available was quite understandable and, even to the most establishment bound Victorian reader, somewhat justifiable, she is not a particularly likable heroine.

Wragge flatters Mrs Lecount with his mugged-up science, and Vanstone is charmed by Magdalen, to whom he extends a tea invitation. Magdalen gets her father’s permission to marry Frank, but he proposes a probationary waiting period of twelve months. When my husband was in college studying radio and broadcasting, he directed a radio play of The Moonstone and loved it.

Given the highly over-wrought state of Magdalen’s sensibility regarding her plan to regain the inheritance, it is also surprising that Collins makes absolutely no mention of the sexual consequences of her marrying Noel Vanstone. Michael Vanstone has died; his only son Noel is sickly and looked after by his housekeeper, Virginie Lecount, a shrewd woman who hopes to inherit his money.As for Collins, I do respect his influence on the genre, but I can’t say that I’m a devoted fan of his work. Pendril, tells Norah and Magdalen that despite appearances their parents had only been married for a few months, and their wedding invalidated the will which left everything to the daughters. Fortunately, we're introduced to Magdalen, the most vivacious and forthgoing actress of her age to only show in a single production only to use her talents across every scheme, gambit, grift she can possibly imagine with her new friend Captain Rag to GET HER MONEY BACK. The Moonstone and The Woman in White are the most popular novels and deservedly so, yet it's a shame that No Name doesn't share the same level of fame.

This provides the plot driver for the final chapters of the novel, until the inheritance and its rightful owners are re-united by the marriage of George Bertram and Norah Vanstone in a somewhat fairy tale conclusion. Oftentimes Victorian authors belittle their female protagonists and have inauspicious fates awaiting those who do not walk the Victorian line.The main purpose of these dramatisations was to preserve the author’s copyright on the story, since under the law at that period a novel was not protected from piracy unless the author had first registered his own adaptation. It was originally serialised in Charles Dickens' magazine All the Year Round before book publication. Far from being a purely gothic or atmospheric mystery, NO NAME is astonishingly realistic and down to earth.