The Law and the Lady (World's Classics) - Softcover

Collins, Wilkie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192828479 ISBN 13: 9780192828477

Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks, 1992

Synopsis

Valeria Woodville's first act as a married woman is to sign her name in the marriage register incorrectly, and this slip is followed by the gradual disclosure of a series of secrets about her husband's earlier life, each of which leads on to another set of questions and enigmas. Her discoveries prompt her to defy her husband's authority, to take the law into into a labyrinthine maze of false clues and deceptive identities, in which the exploration of the tangled workings of the mind becomes linked to an investigation into the masquerades of femininity. Probably the first full-length novel with a woman detective as its heroine, The Law and the Lady is a fascinating example of Collins's later fiction. First published in 1875, it employs many of the techniques used in The Moonstone , developing them in bizarre and unexpected ways, and in its Gothic and fantastic elements The Law and the Lady adds a significant dimension to the history of detective fiction. This book is intended for general readers, especially those interested in detective fiction, students of 19th century literature, the history of popular fiction, detective fiction, women's writing, and feminist criticism of the novel, at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

About this title

About the Author

Wilkie (William) Collins (1824-89) was a hugely successful and popular crime, mystery and suspense writer. He wrote the first full-length detective novels in English and set a mould for the genre as shown in The Moonstone and The Woman in White.

David Skilton teaches at the University of Wales, Cardiff.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0192828479
• ISBN 13: 9780192828477
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 461