The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins has been on my To-Be-Read List for a very long time. Considered to be one of the earliest Detective Novels, it is also a regular on lists of the greatest English novels ever written. It is also quite big, 700-800 pages!

Two weeks before Thanksgiving, I downloaded the 26-hour, unabridged Blackstone Audio edition of Woman in White from my local library. For two and half weeks driving to and fro from work, during lunch-breaks at my desk, and for half of a roadtrip to Ames, Iowa, I listened to Roger Rees, Rosalyn Landor, John Lee and Judy Geeson read Collins’s book. It was worth every minute I spent with it.

The Woman in White is the story of Walter Hartright, a young art teacher, who encounters a mysterious woman in white in London and later learns she escaped from an asylum. Hartright is hired as a drawing teacher at Limmeridge House, where he falls in love with Laura Fairlie, who bears a striking resemblance to the woman in white he had met in London. Unfortunately for Walter, Laura is engaged to Sir Percival Glyde.

Walter and Marian Halcombe, Laura’s devoted half-sister, suspect Glyde’s intentions and believe he is involved somehow with the mysterious woman in white, whose name they learn is Anne Catherick. 

The Woman in White was published in serial form in Charles Dickens’ magazine All the Year Around from November 26, 1859 to August 25, 1860. For context, it was published in the period between the serialization of two of Dickens’ own novels in All the Year Around, Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations!

If you are looking for a book to keep you company in the long, dark days of winter ahead, I think you will find The Woman in White the perfect companion. I highly recommend it!

The Woman in White is in the Public Domain, making it free to anyone who wants to download and read it. Here is a link to the book on Project Gutenberg. Enjoy!