This book written by erstwhile lawyer Wilkie Collins in 1859 is supposedly the first mystery novel of its genre. The story begins when a young drawing master Walter Hartright on his way to Limmeridge Hall, on a new assignment, meets a woman dressed all in white, who requests his help. He helps her to reach London and on the way there she relates her circumstances in a manner which marks something out of the common in her life, that she fears a baronet who is somehow responsible for her wretched circumstances. Later Hartwright comes to know that the lady had escaped from a lunatic asylum. Limmeridge Hall is inhabited by Mr Frederick Fairlie, a bachelor and a hypochondric, a very curious character who never stirs out of his room, even at mealtimes,his niece Miss Laura Fairlie and her devoted half sister Miss Marian Halcombe. There is an uncanny resemblence between the woman in white and Laura Fairlie which astonishes Walter Hartright so much that he requests Marian Halcombe to go through Mrs Fairlie's (Laura's mother) letters to find if the lady is in fact related to them in some way. Marian on perusing the letters discovers that the lady might in fact be Anne Catherick, a half witted woman , who had been a student at their parish school where Mrs Fairlie used to visit. She had been so fond of Mrs Fairlie that once, as a little girl, when Mrs Fairlie had praised her for looking nice in a white dress, Anne had promised her that she would dress in white always. The identity of the woman in white now established the mystery remained that who was the wicked baronet and what had he done to injure Anne Catherick.
During the course of teaching Laura and Marian drawing, Walter Hartright falls in love with Laura, though most of his coversations are with Marian Halcombe. But there is no hope for him to declare himself as he is poor and Laura is the heiress of Limmeridge Hall and all property which will come to her on the death of Mr Fairlie. She is also betrothed to Sir Percival Glyde, a marriage arranged by her father. But by this time Walter suspects that Sir Percival Glyde might be the wicked baronet which Anne Catherick had referred to. Without declaring himself to Laura he decides to leave the place, as the marriage is finalised , but Marian Halcombe knows of his feelings for Laura & suspicions against Sir Percival. She charges Sir Percival with Anne Catherick's story that he was the person who had sent her to asylum. Sir Percival very cleverly obtains a letter from Anne Catherick's mother absolving him of all blame and shows it to Marian to convince her. After Walter Hartright leaves Limmeridge Hall, Laura, who loves him, tries to get out of the engagement by declaring to Sir Percival that she is ready to marry him if he will accept her, though her heart belongs to another. Even on hearing this Sir Percival refuses to break off the engagement & promises Laura that Marian will live with her after the marriage. In the marriage settlement he refuses to accept the stipulation that if Laura dies before him without leaving any children , the twenty thousand pounds she will inherit may be left according to her will. This means that in case of her death he will be the sole owner of the huge sum of money.
Laura and Sir Percival are married and go for a six months tour to Europe. When they return to Blackwater (Sir Percival's home) they are accompanied by Count & Countess Fosco. Count Fosco is extremely shrewd, menacing and obese Italian gentleman who is also the husband of Laura Fairlie's aunt Countess Fosco, who is totally under her husband's thumb. Countess Fosco also stands to benefit monetarily if Laura Fairlie dies. Soon after marriage Sir Percival, who is in financial troubles, asks Laura to sign papers which will hand over the control of her money to him. She refuses to do this on Marian Halcombe's advice in consultation with her lawyer. Sir Percival's problems are aggravated when Anne Catherick arrives there to tell Laura his 'secret' which she knows. Marian Holcombe overhears Sir Percival and Count Fosco's plans regarding them. She gets drenched in the downpour and contracts a dangerous fever which turns to typhus. Count Fosco has already hatched a plan to get rid of Laura using the resemblence between Laura and Anne Catherick. Taking advantage of Marian's illness they trick Laura into travelling to London. When Laura reaches London she is drugged and taken forcibly to the asylum as Anne Catherick. Meanwhile Anne is taken to Count Fosco's home as Lady Fairlie. Here she dies soon after of a heart ailment. All of Lady Fairlie's money now goes to her husband and aunt. Marian Halcombe on recovering from her illness goes to the asylum to meet Anne, and is overjoyed to find Laura instead. She bribes the nurses and escapes with Laura. Here they meet Walter Hartright who had so far been in the Honduras, and has come to pay his respects at Laura Fairlie's grave, when they meet him.
Walter Hartright then takes up cudgels on Laura's behalf to restore her fortune to her. He suspects that Sir Percival's weak point lies in the mystery which Anne had threatened to reveal and which he had claimed would destroy him. Walter starts enquiring about Anne Catherick's background from Mrs Clements, the lady who had mostly looked after Anne and Mrs Catherick, her mother. He soon suspects that the secret lies in Sir Percival's past. With this aim he visits the church vestry at Welmingham to search for records of Sir Percival's fathers and mothers marriage. He finds this, but his suspicions are roused. He finds out from the original record that Sir Percival's father and mother had in fact not been married at all, but was in fact an illegitimate child. Meanwhile Sir Percival who has been following Walter comes to the vestry to try to cover his crime of forgery by burning the record. Unluckily the fire engulfs the entire vestry and Sir Percival is trapped in the blaze. Walter Cartright tries to save him but he is killed in the fire and the record of his crime is also destroyed. To establish Laura's true identity Walter then pressurises Count Fosco to give a written confession. He obtains this with the help of his friend Pesca, who are both members of a secret society in Italy. Count Fosco gives the statement by which Laura Fairlie is once more established to be living. Walter and Laura marry and their son inherits Limmeridge Hall. Count Fosco is later found murdered by the secret society members whom he had escaped from. Anne Catherick's strong resemblence to Laura Fairlie is found to be because she is probably the illegitimate daughter of her father Mr Philip Fairlie, she may be in fact Laura's half sister.
The suspense of the story is maintained in the narrative almost till the end. The ingenious plot of Count Fosco to switch the identities of the women is masterly. Sir Percival's secret is also one which is not easily fathomed. The tempo of the story builds up slowly and surely. The character of Count Fosco is finely sketched. He is shown to be courteous but menacing, kindly but unscrupulous.
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