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  • The Woman in White

  • By: Wilkie Collins
  • Narrated by: Ian Holm
  • Length: 24 hrs and 37 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (2,254 ratings)
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The Woman in White cover art

The Woman in White

By: Wilkie Collins
Narrated by: Ian Holm
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Summary

Exclusively from Audible

Late one moonlit night, Walter Hartright encounters a solitary and terrified woman dressed all in white. He saves her from capture by her pursuers and determines to solve the mystery of her distress and terror.

Inspired by an actual criminal case, this gripping tale of murder, intrigue, madness and mistaken identity has never been out of print since its publication and brought Collins great fame and success. Considered to be among the first mystery novels and the first and finest in the genre of 'sensation novels', The Woman in White is noted for its suspenseful plot and unique characterisation.

Collins's use of multiple narrators drew on his legal training and he states 'the story of an offence against the laws is told in Court by more than one witness'.

In 2003, Robert McCrum writing for The Observer ranked The Woman in White number 23 in the top 100 greatest novels of all time. The novel was also listed at number 77 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.

Charles Dickens was a close friend and mentor of Collins, and the two collaborated together on drama and fiction. The Woman in White, as well as some of his other work, was first published in Dickens' journals.

Narrator Biography

Sir Ian Holm, is a star of the Royal Shakespeare Company, who has played more than 100 roles in films and on television, whilst receiving a stream of awards and nominations. His television debut came as Richard III on the BBC's filmed theatrical production The Wars of the Roses (1965). One of his best-known roles is Sam Mussabini in Chariots of Fire (1981). He has also starred in The Fifth Element (1997), From Hell (2001), The Aviator (2004) and as Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. He has provided voice-overs for many television documentaries including 1066: The Battle for Middle Earth (2009), starred in the BBC's The Lord of the Rings radio dramatisations and narrated many audiobooks. In 1989 he was appointed CBE and in 1998 was knighted for his services to drama.

Public Domain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about The Woman in White

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Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

This fictional story was absolutely brilliant. For a novel written so many years ago, it was truly sensational. The narrators were each in their own way particularly fitting to the parts they played and throughout, not once did the narration falter or feel false.
The characters, plot and imagination all led to a sublimley perfect story.
The story written as a journal over a period of many years is masterful in the extreme.
It is not held back with too much historical prose or embelishment, but moves at an easy pace, which leads one to each and every new twist and turn of the story with immaculate style and credibility.
One of the best audible books I have had the priviledge to listen too in many years.

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57 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

100% recommended

This wonderful classic, rated among the top 100 books ever written, was SO wonderfully narrated, that it was an absolute pleasure to listen to. A superb masterpiece of its time, the first 'criminal story' using the power of deduction, has not lost any of its charm even after so many years - on the contrary, gained an even more enchanting and magical atmosphere. Beautifully written, charming, and incredibly enticing, this literary masterpiece will never lose its place in any book lover's library ;).
Although I read (and listen;) a lot, this book will always remain to be one of my favourites and I could not recommend it more highly.

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38 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed it very much

I love a nice long audiobook and I was encouraged to download this one by the glowing reviews. I don't regret my choice at all. It took me several weeks to get through the whole thing and I will still listen to it again in the future as I like revisiting mysteries once I have the benefit of hindsight.

Whenever I read a Victorian novel I'm delighted with the language. Some find it a bit wordy and lacking in style but I adore it, and this was written excellently.

The negatives are that the story lost its way a bit in the middle, and pages and pages go by with not much happening. It is also fairly predictable although there were a number of things I didn't guess correctly so I didn't feel like my time was wasted. The narration was fantastic although I wish they would have chosen a woman to narrate Marion's part, which was rather long, and I couldn't really immerse myself in her story when it was so obvious a man was relating her tale.

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32 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The Woman in White

This is my first ever 'read' of Wilkie Collins and I am stunned! The plot is not unduly complex but the twists and turns have kept me enthralled for the entire book and I think I can safely say that at no point has my attention wandered.



The characterisation by Ian Holm has been excellent, safely avoiding the danger of muddling the characters, whilst allowing three dimensional characters to appear from the two dimensions of the script.



This book has held me enthralled to the last.



I shall certainly be buying more Wilkie Collins

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A must read...

because this is where it all began. If you love crime fiction you owe it to yourself to read this and the Moonstone by the same author. Don't let the fact it is in the Victorian novel sytle put you off, this is a wonderful tale well narrated by a fabulous actor.

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Linz

Loved this book - beautifully narrated, pulling me in until I could barely go anywhere without listening to this enchanting story.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Unexpected Joy!

Wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy as my daughter did this for her GCSE and found it very difficult.

It took a while to get into this and to understand all the relationships but once there I was hooked!

This is a great who dunnit. Very clever and gives you a real feel for the period of history!

Brilliant!

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Good old fashioned edge of the seat stuff!

This was the first time I have "read" any Wilkie Collins but I have to say that I will be back for more! The Woman in White was a fhoroughly good old fashioned edge of the seat yarn. Brilliant!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enthralling

A long since read book bought to life by the superb narration of Ian Holm. I shall look for other books read by him as he gives life to each character and gives atmosphere to the story.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wow! What an excellent book!

Cannot recommend it highly enough. Beautifully written, full of suspense and very well narrated. A real 'page turner'.

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8 people found this helpful