Reader discussion: The Woman in White

Public reader discussion about The Woman in White in the WeRead Catalog by Wilkie Collins.

The White Tiger - Thoughts/Opinion

By Patience_Badger

I just finished reading *The White Tiger* by Arvind Adiga not too long ago, and I figured it’d be a solid pick for my first post here. I’d give it an 8/10. I mean, every country has its issues, and India definitely does too. The whole book sort of circles around that, and shows what those problems do to people at the very bottom—like how it messes with their head and what they do to push through. It mostly follows Balram, a guy from a tiny village in Bihar, born into a poor farming/labouring kind of family. Early on he basically learns the world isn’t gentle. If you don’t fight back, it’ll drain you, especially after what happens to his father. In school he’s actually the brightest, and people start calling him “The White Tiger”—like a rare exception among all the regular students, and he kind of takes that nickname to heart. I’m not going to go into more details about the plot because I don’t want to spoil anything. But yeah, as the story goes on he keeps running into this harsh, cold world, slowly climbing up, and picking up how things work even when they’re corrupt. It’s pretty grim how he ends up having to bend over for the rich just to survive, and over time he changes into exactly what the “white tiger” idea was about—someone from the poorest of the poor making it to success. The format is first-person, like a letter thing (not sure what the exact term is), where Balram writes at night to a Chinese businessman about his life. The writing is kind of rough and not polished at all, but it fits, since he never really had a proper education and never learned English the right way. You can feel that in how he writes. It did drag a little in the middle for me, but it wasn’t enough to ruin it. Definitely recommend it.

The Woman in the White Kimono

By basilcomet77

Just finished reading The woman in the white Kimono by Ana Johns and wow—what a story. It’s based on real events in post-war Japan, and the ending seriously left me speechless. I’m a big Japan fan (I’ve been twice), so it was really moving in a sad, heartbreaking way to read about that part of their history. Definitely recommend this book.

Thoughts/Questions about Anne Catherick from The Woman in White

By DullSparrow10

I just finished The Woman in White and I can’t shake it, especially Anne Catherick. I keep getting stuck on this same set of questions and I’m not really sure what the answers are. Like, what did people back then think about her? I get that they’d be mad about Laura being locked up, since sane people getting shut away (and especially wives being institutionalized by husbands) was this big scary topic. But Anne is different to me. The book basically tells you she’s not some violent threat at all, and the fact that she runs away makes it feel like she doesn’t even want to be there. Were readers actually sympathetic to her, or did her “disability” make everyone just treat her like she wasn’t fully human? And when she dies, did that read as tragic, or more like “yeah, the story needed her to go”? I also felt like Collins himself sort of steers you toward being gentler about her. When people call her “idiot” or “deranged,” it’s pretty clear the narration wants you to judge the speaker, not her. The worst part is Fosco when she freaks out after realizing he’s kidnapped her—he basically says it’s because she’s got “weak intellect,” like she reacts like a dog would. But he’s the villain, so I’m assuming the book wants you to notice how nasty that is. Walter is a little different—sometimes he calls her “poor creature,” but usually he just uses her name or “the woman in white,” which feels more respectful. Still, that doesn’t automatically mean the audience thought the same thing. Second question: did anyone at the time read Anne as a realistic “insane” person? I know this is probably me projecting a bit. I was diagnosed with autism a couple months ago, so of course I’m going to see it everywhere. But still—she’s super obsessive about Mrs. Fairlie. She has to wear white all the time and gets physically uncomfortable if she can’t. She’s described as slow to learn ideas but once she has them, she clings to them hard. Her voice and expressions feel off—like her speech is kind of mechanical, and her face is always shifting. She fidgets constantly. And she seems to have some kind of intellectual limitation, which I know used to get lumped in differently with autism (and honestly still might have been interpreted that way then). I know Collins couldn’t have had autism as a diagnosis, but was this kind of “developmental weirdness” something his readers would’ve clocked instantly? Like, would they read her and go, “yep, that’s one of the mad people who belongs in a madhouse,” without even thinking twice? And last thing (sorry this is so long): I don’t know if it’s intentional or if I’m making patterns where there aren’t any, but some of the “insane” stuff that Anne has shows up in other characters too. Laura fidgets with her hands, and it’s framed as cute/innocent. There’s a whole contrast in how Anne does it—her fidgeting can look like this intense, almost violent reaction when she’s terrified, like when Walter asks about the asylum and she crushes the cloth in a really startling way. Anne also does religion in a way that feels really unsettling—her letter to Laura has Bible verses and it’s creepy for no reason other than that it’s her. She talks about getting buried with Mrs. Fairlie so they can be resurrected together. Mrs. Michelson does religion too, but it reads totally normal because she’s the widow of a vicar, so it feels like the “sane” version of the same kind of grief talk. Even the “delusion” thing feels weirdly mirrored. Anne is labeled delusional because she thinks she knows the Secret. But Sir Percival is basically doing the same kind of refusing to accept uncertainty—except when he does it, everyone treats him like he’s sane. So it’s like, when someone believes something wrong, it only becomes “insanity” depending on who they are. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just “everyone’s a little off their rocker” or “people decide what madness is.” But I still can’t help feeling like there’s a bigger point in how Anne is treated compared to other characters with similar behaviors.

The Woman in White: Epoch 2, Marian’s Narrative Part 9

By KeepsButton49

I mentioned earlier that Marian and Laura should probably be more careful, and now Percival and the Count get overheard too. I guess that means info is finally traveling the other way. When’s the last time you actually “baffled someone’s precautions”? Also, Marian can slip along the verandah past the Countess’s room… and it sounds like the same goes the other direction. Is that basically solved now? The Count and Percival chatting—what do you all think? And yeah, it’s time to speculate about “the Secret,” because I can’t tell what’s going on.

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

By WISEKETTLE

I first found David Grann because of *Killers of the Flower Moon*, and I was just looking for something in a similar lane, so I ended up grabbing this. Honestly, this was one of the densest books I’ve ever read. I bought it back in January and just finished, but it felt kind of worth it, like you get two books packed into one. There’s the whole planning/marketing/execution side of an urban development project, and then there’s the insane, delusional part with one of the wildest killers in American history. I was already a fan of Burnham, too. I thought he seemed like an efficient leader with a real vision. I kept wishing he’d actually cross paths with Holmes. And it felt like the other architects were all running on the same pressure—like, “we have to get this right, our names are on the line.” I really liked how the book brought Chicago to life, especially once they start finding out about the World’s Fair, building the Ferris wheel, Root’s wedding and funeral, and then bringing in all those huge crowds with Buffalo Bill. It was a lot, but it made the city feel super alive. The opening with Burnham being on the Olympic and then realizing the painter was on the Titanic was just heartbreaking. Holmes himself was just… really messed up. His debts being what finally knocked him out of control was crazy. And it’s awful to think about the young women who disappeared in Chicago at the time—like you can’t really shake it. What freaked me out the most was that big furnace and that footprint detail in the vault. I did know a lot of his story already from a morbid podcast, but this still felt pretty definitive for me. I’m glad he got caught, though I thought the hotel part might’ve been more intense than it was. By the end, I actually started appreciating the World’s Fair a lot more—the accomplishments, what it led to, and how the whole thing brought people together to build something. It also makes you realize what it did for urban development. Chicago has to be phenomenal.

I read The Woman In White and it managed to exceed my expectations

By KluxerProud

I picked up **The Woman In White** at my university library because the title + the blurb made it sound like it was going to be creepy and mysterious. I won’t lie—I expected something spooky in the normal way, but instead it totally surprised me and ended up being more than I thought it would be. Wilkie Collins builds a proper mystery and somehow it still feels readable now. His style is pretty straightforward, but he leans hard into Gothic vibes to keep the tension going. The beginning felt a little slow to me, but I could tell it wasn’t just padding—it was setting up everything, and once I got past that, I got pulled in way more. What really stood out while I was reading was how vivid everything felt. The characters and locations are described so clearly that I could actually picture the people talking and living in Victorian England, instead of it just being names on a page. I also liked the way it’s narrated. It’s told through letters/records and different viewpoints, and the main part is mostly Walter and Marian, with other characters chiming in too. I haven’t come across many books like that, especially from that time period, and it honestly felt clever how Collins played with the storytelling. The plot held up pretty well and kept me interested for most of the book. The main mystery is obviously tied to “the woman in white,” and we meet her early on. Her link to Sir Percival Glydes (Laura Fairlie’s husband) is what really drives everything, and it makes you keep asking stuff like: why does she dislike him, what’s their real connection, and what’s going on underneath it all? Even when the info comes out slowly through the different narrations, it doesn’t feel like random guessing. It all connects, including stuff from side characters even when they don’t show up that much. It felt like Collins had everything planned, not like plot holes were just getting covered up later. I also ended up loving the characterization. Even the characters who weren’t in the spotlight all the time still felt like they had their own personalities and motives. I was genuinely curious about what everyone was up to and how they all tied back to the woman in white. My favorite by far was **Marian Halcombe**. She’s Laura’s half-sister and one of Walter’s students, and she’s one of the most stubborn/resilient female characters I’ve read. In an era where women are expected to just obey, Marian didn’t. She stood up for Laura and refused to let Sir Percival and Count Fosco push her around. Her devotion to Laura really hit me. The way she talks about her in diary entries makes it obvious how much Laura matters to her, and I think their sister bond is one of the best dynamics in the whole story. Even without Laura’s direct point of view, you can still tell they care about each other deeply and they both try hard to support one another, especially Marian. While Marian’s part of the story was going on, I couldn’t help but admire how brave she was. She doesn’t have much power, but she’s sharp, observant, and she plans things out carefully. I was rooting for her the whole way. I also liked that her relationship with Walter stays platonic—like, I didn’t feel like I needed them to turn into a romance, and it was kind of refreshing to see a real friendship between a man and a woman. Marian’s arc also worked for me. At first she’s against Walter and Laura being together because Laura is supposed to marry Sir Percival, and she even tells Walter to back off. But once she realizes Laura is miserable and Sir Percival is genuinely awful, she starts regretting her earlier interference and tries to help her sister while also digging into the mystery. The other characters were engaging too, especially the “evil” ones. Sir Percival and Count Fosco are the kind of villains you hate but also can’t look away from. Count Fosco in particular is charming in a really gross way—he’s meticulous and makes it easy to see why people might get swept up, even though his words are poison. And I can’t forget **Anne Catherick**, the woman tied to the title. Her whole situation made me feel uneasy, and the longer I read, the more I just felt sorry for her. I was mad at everyone involved in how she was treated and how unfair it all was. Even though it’s a mystery thriller, the book also hits some heavier themes. It really shows the kind of abuse women went through under men in the Victorian era. You can feel Laura’s depression being pushed along by her husband’s schemes and emotional cruelty. She’s trapped in a marriage where she’s not valued, and he’s using her for money, which is just awful. I also got so mad reading their dialogue—especially the way Sir Percival and Count Fosco talk about women. It made me feel sick. They basically treat women like objects, and the fact that society lets men like them get defended (even after the worst parts are shown) made the whole thing feel way too relevant. On top of that, Collins handles mental illness in a way that I didn’t expect. It’s not really about demonizing people with mental issues—it’s more about how mental illness can get exploited, especially when it comes to women. Anne feels like a tragedy shaped by how society treats her like an outsider, and it also feels like the book is pointing out how easily people will label women and blame them. That said, it’s not totally flawless. The last quarter dragged for me a bit, and some parts felt slower than they needed to be. I also thought Laura was kind of underused. We hear about her from other people, but I wish we had her actual perspective because I didn’t fully connect with her as much as I wanted to. She came off a little bland to me, even though her situation is heartbreaking. And the romance between her and Walter didn’t convince me that much—he loves her, sure, but I didn’t always understand why in a way that felt super clear, so it landed a little flat for me. Overall though, **The Woman in White** was a really pleasant surprise for me. I went in expecting one thing and ended up enjoying it a lot more. If you like classic literature but also want a good mystery, I’d honestly recommend it—and I hope if you read it, you get pulled into the story the way I did.

The Woman in White, Epoch 2, The Story Continued in Several Narratives

By Rainy_Coast66

I’m jumping in for Thermos since he’s still behind, and I really don’t want him accidentally seeing spoilers for this part. I was tempted to make the discussion questions just “What?”, “Huh?”, and “Wait… what??” but I figured I should probably try to ask real questions, since I’m sure everyone’s been stuck on “what” this whole time. Discussion questions: 1) We just watched Laura die, and then—at least from what it seems—she comes back in the final sentence. So… any theories? Is this turning into some kind of zombie thing? 2) When Laura started getting sick, Fosco was a mess, but Hester said he seemed like he was putting on an act. Then Laura dies and Fosco’s grief seems totally real (per Hester). What’s everyone think is going on with that? 3) Walter’s back. Did we miss something, or was he gone that whole time? 4) Since I warned him this post would be nothing but spoilers and he shouldn’t open it, is there anything you all want to say about u/Thermos_of_Byr when he’s not around? 5) Anything else worth talking about?

I read The Woman In White and I enjoyed it much more than I expected!

By DuneFrozen

I ended up picking up *The Woman in White* from my university library, mostly because the title and the blurb sounded like it would be all spooky and mysterious. I was ready for creepy vibes… but honestly it surprised me in a good way. It went way beyond what I thought I was signing up for. Wilkie Collins manages to make the mystery work even if you’re reading it today. His style is pretty straightforward, but he leans hard into Gothic stuff to keep the tension going. The beginning felt a little slow at first (at least to me), but I could tell he was setting everything up on purpose. By the time I kept reading, I was fully in it. I also really liked how vivid the characters and locations felt. I could picture people talking and moving around, and it made the whole Victorian England setting feel more real instead of just being vague descriptions. What stood out the most for me was the narration. It’s told in a kind of letter/journal style, and you get different perspectives. A lot of the story is mainly through Walter and Marian, but other characters fill in key bits too. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like it, and for the time it was written, it felt clever and imaginative. The plot itself kept my attention for most of the book. And yeah, the big mystery is “the woman in white,” who shows up pretty early. Her connection to Sir Percival Glydes (Laura Fairlie’s husband) is basically what kicks everything off, and it raises all these questions you can’t really ignore—why does she dislike him, what’s their real relationship, and what’s really going on? I will say the book felt pretty tight with its information—like it didn’t leave a bunch of random plot holes or unanswered stuff just to be mysterious. Even though you learn things gradually through the different narrations, every detail mattered. It didn’t feel like things happened by chance. Character-wise, I liked that almost everyone felt distinct, not just the main leads. I kept being curious about everyone’s motives and how they fit into the mess. And Marian Halcombe was my favorite. She’s Laura’s half-sister and one of Walter’s students, and I genuinely admire how tough and resilient she is. In a time when women were expected to just do what men said, Marian doesn’t. She stands up for Laura and doesn’t just let Sir Percival and Count Fosco push her around. Marian’s devotion to Laura actually got to me. The way she talks about her in her entries makes it clear how much she cares. Their sister bond is probably my favorite dynamic in the whole story. Even without getting Laura’s direct point of view, you can still tell how strong the love is through the way they interact and the way the other narrations frame it. When it came to Marian’s part of the story, I couldn’t help but root for her. She’s smart and careful, and she’s not clueless even when she’s scared. She’s at a disadvantage because she doesn’t have power, but she still plans, watches, and takes risks to protect Laura. And I also liked that her relationship with Walter stays platonic. Some people would probably expect a romance there, but I didn’t want that. Their friendship and alliance felt real and refreshing. Most of the other characters worked for me too, even the secondary ones. Sir Percival and Count Fosco are the kind of villains you hate but can’t stop paying attention to. Count Fosco especially—he’s charming and neat and somehow I still felt like I was being pulled in even though I knew he was poison. And then there’s Anne Catherick, the one the title comes from. Her whole background and what she’s dealing with made me feel uneasy for a big portion of the book. The more I learned, the more I ended up pitying her—and getting angry at everyone connected to how she was treated. Even though it’s a mystery thriller, it also hits some heavier themes. It really shows how women were treated under men in the Victorian era, especially how Laura gets worn down emotionally. Her marriage isn’t loving at all, and it’s not just misery for the sake of drama—the husband is scheming and using her for money. That made me so mad, especially during Sir Percival and Count Fosco’s conversations, because their whole attitude toward women was disgusting. They act like women are basically objects, not people. It also made me think more about women’s rights around inheritance and how society loves blaming women while pretending aristocratic men are untouchable. It felt painfully relevant, even now. The way the book handles mental illness was another thing that stood out. It doesn’t feel like it’s treating it lightly, and it shows how people use the stigma against women. Anne feels like a tragic example of how society treats mentally ill people like they’re disposable. And even if a woman wasn’t “really” ill, behavior could still get twisted into it anyway. The villains here aren’t just the characters doing harm—they’re the people with authority who don’t hesitate to step on others to stay in control. That said, it wasn’t perfect for me. The last part dragged a bit, and there were sections that felt slower than they needed to be. I also felt like Laura herself was kind of underused. We learn about her through other people, and while I felt for her, she came off flatter than she could’ve. I would’ve liked seeing more of her own thoughts—her suspicions, her feelings about Anne Catherick, her depression, her love for Marian and Walter. Also, the romance between Laura and Walter didn’t fully convince me. I know Walter loves her and wants to help her, but I didn’t always buy why his feelings were as strong as they were. It needed a bit more groundwork. Overall, though, *The Woman in White* was a really pleasant surprise for me this year. I didn’t expect to like it this much, but I’m glad I gave it a shot. If you enjoy classic stories with a real mystery and you’re okay with some heavy themes, I’d recommend it—and I hope anyone who reads it gets pulled in the way I did.

A book as exciting and well written as The Woman in White By Wilkie Collins

By Jar

Not sure where to start, but this looks like one of those book suggestion subs where people throw out recommendations and you can find new stuff to read. They’ve got a bunch of different weekly threads for beginners and experienced readers too, plus themed ones like “what to read after Harry Potter” or books similar to Game of Thrones. They also seem pretty strict about spoilers, and they list a bunch of stuff they won’t allow—like posts that aren’t actually asking for book ideas, blogs/spam, affiliate links, anything related to piracy, and even certain “style” titles like TIL/ELI5/CMV. Same with comments—no low-effort stuff, no memes, no insults, no unmarked NSFW links, that kind of thing. Anyway, I’m guessing it’s pretty active, but I’m a little unsure if it’s worth it depending on how you want to browse.

The Woman in White: Epoch 1, Part 8

By Mug-Couplet

Ok but Mr. Hartright really out here begging for more music, and specifically the light, bouncy kind this time. That whole moment was kind of funny to me, like I can totally picture him being really picky about it. Also I still don’t fully know what to make of Mrs. Vesey’s whole vibe, and Miss Fairlie being a total hottie but not really flaunting it is confusing in a good way? The Woman in White connection feels like a huge deal too—like it’s probably not a coincidence, but I’m not 100% sure yet.

Questions about Anne Catherick from The Woman in White

By Island_Rapid

I just finished The Woman in White, and I honestly can’t stop thinking about it. Anne Catherick is the one that keeps sticking in my head. I ended up with a bunch of questions because I’m not sure how to read her, and I’d love to hear what other people think. Like… how would the original readers have felt about her? I get that people were already pretty freaked out by the whole “a husband locks up his sane wife” thing, so they’d be shocked/outraged at Laura getting treated like that. But Anne feels way different to me. The book pretty clearly shows she’s not actually dangerous, and she runs away because she doesn’t want to be in the asylum in the first place. So were people supposed to feel sorry for her? Or did they just see her disability and basically dehumanize her anyway? And was her death treated like a real tragedy, or more like “sad ending, moving plot along” territory? I feel like Collins himself kind of gives her sympathy, too. When other characters call her names like “idiot” or “deranged,” it doesn’t really feel like the story wants you to agree with them. The worst example to me is Fosco, when Anne panics after realizing he basically kidnapped her—he doesn’t seem to think “oh, he messed up, she’s scared,” he acts like it’s because she’s got weak intellect, like she’s basically a dog. Which, okay, he’s the villain, but still. Walter is more gentle sometimes, like calling her “poor creature,” or just using her name. But I don’t know if the readers thought the same way. Second question: did people at the time see Anne as a realistic “insane” person? I was surprised at how much she reads as autistic to me. I know I could be projecting a bit since I was just diagnosed a couple months ago, but still—there are a lot of things that line up. She’s obsessing over Mrs. Fairlie nonstop, like “everything else goes away.” They even describe her as having this weird tenacity for keeping ideas. She’s rigid about always wearing white and it seems like it’s not just a tribute—non-white clothing makes her physically uncomfortable. Walter describes her voice like it’s almost mechanical, and her facial expressions shift constantly. She also fidgets with her hands a lot. And she seems like she might have some intellectual disability too, which used to be treated like part of autism. I know Collins couldn’t have known the modern terms, obviously, but did readers recognize those traits as “this is what a madwoman is like”? Or did they not really read it that way? One more thing that I can’t stop side-eyeing: a lot of the same “traits” show up in other characters too, but they’re not treated as signs of insanity for them. Laura fidgets with her hands—Gilmore and Marian mention it—and it’s framed like innocent/cute behavior. But when Anne fidgets, it’s described like she’s crushing cloth with this intense, almost traumatic reaction (she’s terrified, not angry). Anne also goes way harder on religion in a way that feels unsettling. Her creepy letter has all these Bible references about prophetic dreams, and then she talks about wanting to be buried with Mrs. Fairlie so they can be resurrected together. Like… that’s not a “normal grieving widow” kind of vibe, it’s more “this person is spiraling.” Mrs. Michelson talks about religion and grief too, but she’s a vicar’s widow, so it comes off as normal for the role she’s in. And the biggest parallel I keep coming back to: Anne is “delusional” because she thinks she knows the Secret. But the sympathetic characters who seem to get her (like Walter and Mrs. Clements) still treat it like madness. Sir Percival, meanwhile, basically thinks Anne and Laura are both in on the Secret and refuses to entertain they might not be—except when he does it, he’s considered sane. So it’s like the story says “their delusion = asylum,” but “his delusion = somehow respectable.” Even with Fosco, it feels connected: he thinks he’s smarter than he is, and it blows up because he misjudges things badly (like giving stimulants to someone with a heart condition and then kidnapping her). Again: he keeps believing his own version of reality even when it’s clearly going wrong. I don’t know what I’m supposed to make of it all. “Everyone’s a little crazy”? “Lunacy is in the eye of the beholder”? But I still think there’s something interesting here, and I can’t tell if it’s intentional or if I’m just seeing patterns where there aren’t any.

Has anyone read “The Women” yet?

By amber-fish

I grabbed this book a couple months after it came out because it’s been getting nonstop hype, and the ratings on there were crazy high too. I know ratings aren’t everything, but I still got curious. I finally started it yesterday and I’m about 40 pages in (out of 500+), and I’m kind of not feeling it yet. The whole idea sounds really cool—women doing heroic stuff during the Vietnam War. But so far the war part feels kind of too “basic” somehow? Like it’s already throwing in romance setup right away. For example, on her first night in Vietnam, she’s coming from a sheltered privileged background straight into actual bombings, and the writing is already pushing this guy as a potential love interest—like describing his stuff on her while she’s scared. She’s terrified, but then she’s comforted by a man she just met, and that doesn’t really match what the book’s supposed to be about (women who get overlooked). I’m still debating continuing, but that beginning really threw me. So I’m wondering—has anyone else read it yet? What did you think? **Update:** After reading everyone’s replies, I think I’m done. I was most excited for the women-focused angle, and instead it sounds like a bunch of relationship mess and trauma gets wrapped in it, which is honestly disappointing. It also kinda feels gross to romanticize what women experienced, especially since the real situation for women in the military wasn’t remotely like something “hot” or charming—way more sexual abuse and awful stuff. I get the irony too that the “women can be heroes” idea seems to land in her head because a man says it to her. Like the whole moment is basically “women can be heroes too,” and it triggers this big realization. And I just don’t get why a major historical event that most people barely know about needs any romance at all. There was so much potential 😭

Rant: The Woman in White (Collins). Can't get over the ending because...

By Bolter49

Ugh, I really felt bad for Marion. I keep thinking the story would’ve been way better if Walter ended up with Marion (and not with that wilted-flower Laura). Laura just wasn’t a great character in my opinion, and it would’ve made sense if she’d been so messed up by everything that she never really bounced back. Then Walter and brilliant Marion could’ve had a real happy ending, and they could’ve taken care of her too. And honestly, little Walt Jr. could still have gotten Fairlie’s estate like it did. It just feels so unfair—like, just because she didn’t have a pretty face. Laura, you belong back in the Dickens novel you crawled out of! Anyway, thoughts?

Book Announcement: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

By Quantum-Zenith1981

Looks like our finalist vote winner is **The Woman in White** by Wilkie Collins, so that’ll be our next read! The only thing is it’s kind of split into a bunch of sections and subsections, so putting together a clean schedule isn’t super straightforward. We’re working on it, but for now you can totally grab your own copy if you want. Right now the plan is to start on **Monday, October 27**. So yeah, there’ll be a little downtime between books, but we’ve got a couple ideas for filling the gap—we’ll share more later. If you want some free options, here are links: - Project Gutenberg - Standard eBook - Librivox Audiobook Drop your thoughts or questions below. And as usual, everyone can read however they like (and in whatever language they’re comfortable with). Hope you’ll join us for another classic!

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

By putty_sky

I saw a bunch of mixed stuff about it and people were saying it’s the scariest thing they’ve ever read, but mine felt more like a quick airport pickup thing and more or less a classic English ghost story. I watched the movie first and didn’t really like it, and I kinda blamed the casting (Radcliffe maybe not being right), but now that I’ve read it, I still just can’t get scared. It came out in 1983, but I don’t really see it as a “classic.” I didn’t feel like there was much atmosphere or extra depth like you’d get from Du Maurier or the Brontës, and it didn’t build enough dread or the right kind of details to make it actually frightening. The only part that kept my attention was the dog reacting late at night, and Arthur checking out that locked room after hearing bumping and knocking—then it stops and he just goes back to bed. He only thinks about breaking the door the next time, but he gets sidetracked. Overall it was kind of a slog. My copy was about 200 pages and it took me way too long to get through because I couldn’t stay interested.

The Woman in White

By HiddenSwan6

I’m not trying to get spoilers or anything, but I just needed to talk about this book a little since I don’t really have bookish friends. I’m at the part where we meet Count Fosco, and it feels like I’ve suddenly switched to a totally different story. This is my first Wilkie Collins, so I have no clue what to expect next. I’m only about 35% in (according to Kobo) and I can’t even wrap my head around where it’s heading, but honestly, that’s kind of exciting 😎 Hope everyone else is having a great weekend reading! Cheers.

Woman in White

By martinezPause1978

Is *The Woman in White* an easy read? I mostly stick to classics, but it honestly looks really long and kind of intimidating. Am I going to have to slog through it, or will I get hooked and burn through it pretty fast?

Your first book vs. what u read now

By Delta-Tiger69

The first book that really hooked me on reading was *A Gathering Light* by Jennifer Donnelly. When I was 14, I felt super connected to Mattie, who’s 16. She’s basically a girl who’s always had a writing dream—like she wants to go to college and become a real author—but her family situation keeps getting in the way. I honestly loved her friendships, the word games, all of that. Now I’m 23, and I’m kind of shocked that my reading list hasn’t shifted that much. I’ve got stuff that’s more philosophical now, like *Beyond Good and Evil* and *The Republic*, but I still end up reading a lot of books that center on women’s lives in different time periods. Like recently I read *Circe* and *The Book Thief*—both have female leads, just in totally different eras. I’m curious though—did your reading tastes change a lot from what got you into reading, or are you still mostly drawn to the same kinds of themes?

THE WOMAN IN WHITE 2018 , watched this back in 2022 I enjoyed the melodrama of this Gothic horror tale, it's was very haunting and atmospheric with incredible cast and locations and some beautiful costumes OVERALL a beautiful,sad victorian murder mystery . it's just 5 EPISODES WORTH THE WATCH .

By atombeacon789

I’m just a basic girly, see Jessie Buckley and I’m like yeah, clicked.

[Marginalia] The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

By stampSubwink

This is the Marginalia page for *The Woman in White*. Feel free to drop any notes or random thoughts as you read. Just please use spoiler tags and say what point you’re at in the book, since not everyone will be there yet.