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The Dead Secret (Hardcover)

by Wilkie Collins (Author)

3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Hardcover: 340 pages
Publisher: Wildside Press (February 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0809599171
ISBN-13: 978-0809599172
Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
Shipping Weight: 654 g

Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Having previously tried my hand at short serial stories (collected and reprinted in _After Dark,_ and _The Queen of Hearts),_ I ventured on my first attempt, in this book, to produce a sustained work of fiction, intended for periodical publication during many successive weeks. The experiment proved successful both in this country and in America. Two of the characters which appear in these pages -- "Rosamond," and "Uncle Joseph" -- had the good fortune to find friends everywhere who took a hearty liking to them. A more elaborately drawn personage in the story -- "Sarah Leeson" -- was, I think, less generally understood. The idea of tracing, in this character, the influence of a heavy responsibility on a naturally timid woman, whose mind was neither strong enough to bear it, nor bold enough to drop it altogether, was a favorite idea with me, at the time, and is so much a favorite still, that I privately give "Sarah Leeson" the place of honor in the little portrait-gallery which my story contains. Perhaps, in saying this, I am only acknowledging, in other words, that the parents of literary families share the well-known inconsistencies of parents in general, and are sometimes unreasonably fond of the child who has always given them the most trouble. -- Wilkie Collins, _January, 1861_

Ingram

THE DEAD SECRET explores the relationship between a fallen woman, her illegitimate daughter, and buried secrets in a superb blend of romance and Gothic drama. Reprinted here in the only critical edition available is the text of the first edition, including Collins's preface and revision . --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews

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3.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)

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3.0 out of 5 stars not bad, but nothing great, Mar 28 2002

By	J. Braun "jb" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dead Secret (Paperback)

The story begins with a deathbed scene in which the dying Mrs. Treverton , racked with guilt for some mysterious secret she has been hiding, forces her maid, Sarah, to transcribe her confession and instructs her servant to give it to her husband so he will finally know the truth. Because Sarah is implicated in the secret (although we are not initially told how), she circumvents this final request, too frightened to give her master the letter, but also too frightened to destroy it, and consequently ends up locking it away in a room in a forgotten wing of the mansion. Fifteen years magically elapse, and Sarah assumes that the secret will never be discovered... until, of course, she finds out that Rosamond Treverton (the dying woman's daughter) has recently married and plans to renovate the mansion, including the forgotten wing in which the mysterious letter is hidden. While The Dead Secret is an amusing and fast read, there are some holes in the story (missing details such as the fact that we are never told why Sarah's ominous husband was so awful or what happened to him, and more troubling aspects, such as the characters' reactions to the unraveling of the secret, which, to me, were not nearly as complex or as convincing as they perhaps could have been). I'd recommend this book to someone with a penchant for Wilkie Collins - others would probably be better satisfied reading one of his greater and well-known works, such as The Woman in White.

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3.0 out of 5 stars An early Collins work with a taste of greatness to come, Mar 5 2002

By	Catherine S. Vodrey (East Liverpool, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Dead Secret (Paperback)

Wilkie Collins wrote "The Dead Secret" early in his career as a novelist, and his inexperience shows here--but the Collins aficionado will welcome the opportunity to see how his gifts first manifest themselves in this relatively simple story. He gathers together all the usual suspects: a wealthy family, an old house, a charming child, and the member of the house staff who harbors the secret in question. While Collins falls short in his effort to sketch an unrequited yearning (I can't go into more detail if you haven't read the book), he does a beautiful job of portraying the subtle class differences and behaviors in this particular house.

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3.0 out of 5 stars early Collins work shows promise.., Sep 13 2000

By	lazza (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dead Secret (Paperback)

Wilkie Collins has written some brilliant crime/mystery novels during his career, most notably The Woman in White / No Name / The Moonstone. His earlier works are almost unknown nowadays. But such obscurity is unwarrented, at least in the case of The Dead Secret.

The Dead Secret tells a simple story of a mystery surrounding an untold secret of a dying wealthy woman. This woman's secret is shared only with her servant. Despite the woman's dying wish, the servant does not divulge the secret ... with unpleasent results. Eventually the secret is revealed and all is understood.

The novel works well mostly because it is fast paced, and it has all the richness of a Collins novel (ie, it is well-written). No, it isn't as clever or suspenseful as Collins's later works. But Wilkie Collins fans should place The Dead Secret on their 'must read' list.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Charming Predecessor to _The Woman in White_.
This is the last of what critics refer to as Collins's "apprentice novels", meaning that this is the last novel he wrote before he achieved fame with _The Woman in... Read more

Published on Jun 7 2000 by Lauryn Angel-cann