The Woman in White (Annotated)

Differentiated book* It has a historical context with research of the time-The story is considered an early example of detective novels. The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins, was included in a list of the best novels of all time. The Woman in White is presented through a series of testimonials. The main narrator is Walter Hartright, who is hired to teach drawing to two young men of the Limmeridge mansion in Cumberland. The night before embarking on his journey the man finds a stranger. The woman, dressed in white, alludes to her ties with the Limmeridge mansion and the Fairlie family. Walter later discovers that the woman had escaped from an asylum for insane people. In Cumberland Walter is delighted with his students: the kind and intelligent Marian and his half sister, the dreamy and beautiful Laura. As the months go by he realizes that he has fallen in love with Laura and that she loves him too.However Laura is committed to a baron, an arrangement that her own father has made before he died. To avoid the scandal Walter must leave Cumberland. Before she can leave, the mysterious woman in white reappears. Walter and Marian conduct an investigation and find that it is Anne Catherick. She is the one who wrote to Laura warning of the evil that could lead to marrying Percival Glyde.But before Walter and Marian can find out something else Anne disappears.Walter returns to London. Laura and Percival get married. Walter feels followed and spied on. With the help of Marian he manages to travel to South America where he hopes to heal his heart.Laura, Percival and Marian settle in the ruined house of Percival. An Italian count, Fosco, and his wife join them. The count is something sinister and has Percival in his possession. Percival makes it clear that he married Laura for money and hopes to get it without delay. With the situation of his sister increasingly desperate, Anne Catherick reappears and promises to reveal a secret about Percival. However, Marian becomes seriously ill and Anne disappears. When Marian recovers she learns that Laura has died.