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No Name
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Magdalen Vanstone and her sister Norah learn the true meaning of social stigma in Victorian England only after the traumatic discovery that their dearly loved parents, whose sudden deaths have left them orphans, were not married at the time of their birth. Disinherited by law and brutally ousted from Combe-Raven, the idyllic country estate which has been their peaceful home since childhood, the two young women are left to fend for themselves. While the submissive Norah follows a path of duty and hardship as a governess, her high-spirited and rebellious younger sister has made other decisions. Determined to regain her rightful inheritance at any cost, Magdalen uses her unconventional beauty and dramatic talent in recklessly pursuing her revenge. Aided by the audacious swindler Captain Wragge, she braves a series of trials leading up to the climactic test: can she trade herself in marriage to the man she loathes?
Author
Wilkie Collins
William Wilkie Collins (1824–1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. He wrote 30 novels, more than 60 short stories, 14 plays, and more than 100 essays. His best-known works are The Woman in White and The Moonstone.
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Reviews for No Name
Rating: 3.991701286307054 out of 5 stars
4/5
241 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I heartily recommend this book to fans of Wilkie Collins! I really enjoyed it even though it wasn't quite as good as The Woman in White or The Moonstone. I think the dénouement could have been more dramatic, but I see why Collins ended the book the way he did.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When Magdalen and Norah's parents die in rapid succession, the Vanstone daughters suddednly discover that they were born out of wedlock, and left virtually penniless.Restoring herself and her sister to therir rightful place is Magdalen's one passionate desire. The relentless pursuit of her object may cost her dearly.What an excellent book! This is my favorite work of Collins that I've read to date.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This 1862 novel has interesting events powered by the law as it existed in 1846 in Britain, where bastards had no inheritance rights unless conferred by will. This leads to two fine young women being deprived of an part in their father's ample estate. One of the girls proceeds to try to get this money by marrying the guy who has it. This sets up a tortuous path as she strives to get the money, full of twists and turns and holding the reader, if a little incredulous o the liklihood of the events, reading on until the very last page. It is fun to think of what this novel does not tell and which a modern novel would tell. For instance, not a word of the sex lives of the couple after the woman, who despises the man, succeeds in marrying him. The story goes on and on, with some things inducing incredulity, and while not as good as the best Dickens novels, does have events which make one eager to see what happens. Actually, a lot better than some modern fiction
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An impressive novel which, in common with many Victorian male writers, has strong women characters. It starts off a bit sub-Jane Austin but soon veers away into something more mysterious and dramatic. It has plenty of longheurs but also enough twists and turns to hold the interest. I know England is a small country but like other Victorian novels, it relies too often on incredible chance meetings between characters at crucial moments.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I got this book as a Christmas present and it turned out to be a real surprise, as I'd been vaguely under the impression that the only Collins books worth reading were Moonstone, Woman in White and (possibly) Armadale. As others have explained above, the plot revolves around the attempts by Magdalen Vanstone to put right the injustice done to herself and her sister Norah as a result of their father dying unexpectedly without having made a valid will.In his preface, Collins states (not altogether convincingly) that his primary objecitve is to study the psychology underlying Magdalen's vacillations between right and wrong. To this end, he intends to eschew his usual twists and turns and shock revelations. Well, up to a point .......The first thing to say is that the book is a real page-turner. Once past the initial scene-setting (itself very well done), it's hard to put the book down. This is helped by the fact that - unlike his friend and associate, Dickens - Collins does not really go in for copious sub-plots. As somebody else has mentioned here, the central section where Wragge and Lecounter go head to head with their rococo machinations is splendid, as well as being very funny at times.My one criticism would be that the book is fractionally too long. The cost of squeezing a couple more episodes out of the plot is that the coincidences pile up and plausibility takes a nose dive. But this is a minor quibble. This is a fine novel by a much overlooked writer.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A fairly run-of-the-mill Collins, though there is nothing wrong with that! Lifted out of the ordinary by the marvellous duel between Captain Wragge and Mrs Lecount.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Magdalen and Norah Vanstone lose their father in a train accident and their mother immediately afterwards in childbirth and then discover that, as their parents were not married at the time of their births, they are both illegitimate and disinherited. The uncle who inherits their father's fortune, does so in a vengeful spirit, in the full knowledge that his brother was about to make a will safeguarding their future, but died before being able to do so. Norah accepts her fate and becomes a governess; Magdalen (whose engagement is now in doubt) vows to recover their money, by whatever means necessary.I found this written in a very accessible style for a Victorian novel. There are several sections where the story is advanced by way of letters, but most of the narrative is from the viewpoint of Magdalen, her co-conspirator Captain Wragge, and her nemesis Mrs Lecount. The blurb on the back of my book says the novel was rejected as immoral by Victorian critics, and there is certainly a lot going on: illegitimacy, stage-acting, disguise, assumed identites, a con artist and thoughts of suicide.Magdalen's reaction to her plight are shown to be "masculine", as opposed to Norah's purely feminine response. We see little of the saintly Norah, and, although Magdalen commits atrocity after atrocity and fails to conform to Victorian ideals of feminine passivity and moral purity, she too gets her happy ending.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I turned the last page of "No Name" my first thought was " Why did I take so long to read this book?, so much time wasted!"My only Collins experience had been some years ago with "The woman in white" and I wasn't disappointed. But I don't know why I kept postponing starting this novel, which had been in my shelves for quite a long time. Maybe its lenght, maybe (in my humble opinion) the too much simplified summary plot, maybe because I thought I knew what kind of book I was going to read...Well, wasn't I mistaken!I simply loved every single page of the 726 of the novel. Not for a single moment did I feel disconnected from the story or its characters, so varied and well developed. From the so different Vanstone Sisters to the sneaky Mr Wraggle or the cunning Mrs Lecount (what a clash of titans! I loved the psychological struggle between these two characters) to the knightly hero of Mr. Kirke.The novel is divided into 8 scenes, each one of them clearly separated, taking place in different settings and with several characters which cross the path of the brave Magdalen Vanstone. 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 her parents' fortune. Sweet and innocent Norah accepts her due and starts working as a governess but her younger and spirited sister Magdalen starts planning her revenge and schemes a trap to recover their fortune, no matter the cost.Not only the thriller in itself, but also the unconventional way of presenting the facts, the battle of Magdalen's conscience between good and evil and the outcome of the story teaches a lesson which is still useful nowadays.Maybe one of the best readings this year, I think this novel should be more valued and that it should be occupying the place it deserves, among the masterpieces to be read and reread over and over again.***SPOILER***Can't help writing the last sentences of the story...It was sublime!" "Tell me the truth!" she repeated. "With my own lips?" "Yes!" she answered eagerly. "Say what you think of me, with your own lips." He stooped, and kissed her. "
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Although a good read in that the characters were well drawn and the pace is good, it is really difficult to reconcile oneself to the plot. The fate of the sisters by the end of the book is totally unjust, as the passive and resigned sister is given all the good fortune and the artistic and rightfully angry sister is given all the punishment. Collins is basically saying that a woman's resourcefulness, ambitition and rightful indignation against injustice is a moral failing.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It took me a while to get into this book, but the story picked up pace at about the 200 page mark and from that point onwards I was fairly well hooked. There were the usual outrageous coincidences which would be so frowned upon in novels written today, but it was good to read a Victorian novel with such a strong and resourceful female protagonist. Wilkie Collins hasn't got the 'brand awareness' of Dickens, but I think he was much more sympathetic to women.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Excellent plot, I enjoyed this much better than The Moonstone or The Woman in White. Like the latter, there is a legal backdrop revolving around marriage and inheritance, influenced by Wilkie Collins' training in the law.There are a couple of challenges for the modern reader. First, the repetitiveness, often in epistolary form. Not only do we see every connection and every communication, but we see it from all possible angles. Second, the ending is predictable. You have to be prepared to read this tome for the plot twists, character development and certain memorable scenes. The plot is carefully, some might say forcefully, constructed so that even minor characters repeatedly find a way back to the central story. The contrast between sisters Magdalen and Norah is moralistically painted, but you expect nothing less from a Victorian novel.
Book preview
No Name - Wilkie Collins
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