About this deal
There is talk of making a ‘settlement’ on her – that is, specifying a separate allowance over which she would have legal control – but not much is made of that issue. Next day the governess Miss Garth is accosted by the dubious Captain Wragge who is making enquiries about Mrs Vanstone.
Much of the plot concerns Magdalen Vanstone’s quest to gain back what has been wrongfully taken from her and her sister—the inheritance left by her father.They became a bit tedious and I lost interest from time to time, which is why I'm only giving the novel 3 stars.
Oftentimes Victorian authors belittle their female protagonists and have inauspicious fates awaiting those who do not walk the Victorian line. I enjoyed my first reading of the story, but it was on the second reading of it that I decided it's not only my favourite Wilkie Collins novel, but my favourite novel of all and Wlkie Collins has now become my favourite author. No Name is an example of Collins’ training in estate law and the various intricacies of the rules and loopholes during that period in mid 19th century England.Well, actually, Wilkie is only interested in Magdalen, the sexier of the two, so let's rephrase that, what is she to do? There is something extremely disheartening and soul destroying when one reads a story where what is base and evil in man come so strongly to the fore.