Product Description

When the elderly Allan Armadale makes a terrible confession on his death-bed, he has little idea of the repercussions to come, for the secret he reveals involves the mysterious Lydia Gwilt: flame-haired temptress, bigamist, laudanum addict and husband-poisoner. Her malicious intrigues fuel the plot of this gripping melodrama: a tale of confused identities, inherited curses, romantic rivalries, espionage, money – and murder. The character of Lydia Gwilt horrified contemporary critics, with one reviewer describing her as ‘One of the most hardened female villains whose devices and desires have ever blackened fiction’. She remains among the most enigmatic and fascinating women in nineteenth-century literature and the dark heart of this most sensational of Victorian ‘sensation novels’.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27033 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 752 pages

About the Author
Wilkie Collins was born in London in 1824. From the early 1850s he was a friend of Charles Dickens' and contributed to Household Works. Collins began by writing plays, but is most remembered for his novels, including The Moonstone (1868) and The Woman in White (1860). He died in 1889. John Sutherland is Professor of English at University College, London. He has edited many books for Penguin Classics, including Anthony Trollope.

Customer Reviews

Another Collins masterpiece
Wilkie Collins is often seen as a poor man's Dickens. I see him as Dickens without the exaggerated characters and ridiculous names. His novels also seem more naturally written and less formulaic than Dickens.

The first chapters of Armadale open with a dramatic death-bed scene which sets the atmosphere for the rest of the book - 'The sins of the fathers shall be visited on the children'. The book is based around one of Collins' pet themes - doubles - in this case two men with the same name. The viewpoint of the book shifts between various characters and in places, letter-writing is used to carry the story (a favourite Collins device).

As ever with Collins, the the character construction is outstanding. You live these people's lives and experience their emotions. Weeks after reading the books, you can still feel their existence. Of course the author spends most time on the main two or three characters, but Collins always singles out a few more to give his attention to. In this case, two of the most poignant supporting characters in English fiction - an embittered bedridden older woman who believes any woman is after her homely husband; and an astonishingly unattractive middle-aged man who is so besotted by our heroine that he would give up everything. Masterfully, Collins builds these people up as pathetic, powerless, individuals but the strength of emotion in each is able to cause chaos.

And so to our heroine, Lydia Gwilt - the classic nineteenth-century adventuress. The great achievement of Armadale is the reader's changing perception of her as the narrative shifts perspective. This perception varies from seeing her as a remote object of fear to a criminal to a victim to an object of desire. As the perspective of the book shifts, you desperately want her to succeed and be happy. This creates conflict in the reader due to the things she has done (there was probably a lot more conflict for the reader of the last century).

As with Woman in White, the book seems to have a natural split halfway-through. If the book finished at this point, everybody would have lived happily ever after, but of course that would have been too easy.

Taken as a whole, there is something slightly dissatisfying about the book, so it must be rated behind The Moonstone and The Woman in White. Still highly recommended.

Yet another Collins "must-read" classic.
No, this is not as good as 'The Woman In White' or 'The Moonstone'. The pace and the style of writing is really quite different (Collins was immensely ill whilst writing this book). There is something lacking in this novel that the other three big novels of Collins had plenty of.

Armadale is not as mysterious as the other novels. The only real secret kept from the reader until the end is the truth of Lydia Gwilt's past. This secret of her past is not something that I craved or cared that much about, all I cared about is what she was going to do next which she always clearly spells out what she is going to do, pages or chapters before she does it.

All this said, it is still a fantastic read. It took me a long time to get through because this novel seems to be split in two, and the first part is quite tedious. Midwinter is an admirable character, but Mr Armadale is extremely annoying, and Midwinter, in turn, for caring so much for him is quite annoying. As a reader I was really willing Miss Gwilt on, and agreed with her on every count of Allan Armadale's character. The pair that consists of Armadale and Midwinter somewhat mirrors the pair of Marian Halcombe and Laura Fairlie from 'The Woman In White' where one is incredibly strong and the other is weak, needing constant care and attention from the stronger of the pair. The first part of the novel focuses on their relationship and foreshadowing dreams. Even Midwinter's character becomes a bore when he obsesses over fate and destiny.

The second half the novel consists mainly of Lydia Gwilt's point of view whilst being introduced to new characters way of thinking, such as Mr Bashwood and Mrs Milroy. The novel picks up here and becomes a lot more interesting. There are a few instances when we think we know where the story is going, but then takes a different way completely. She gains our sympathy as she tries as hard as she can to be moral and honest, only to find her efforts useless and forced back into her old ways.

This is worth a read, and some think this book is better than the more popular TWIW and TM, but I don't think so. The pacing is uneven, and some things are just too overly detailed and obvious. I was oddly dissatisfied when I had finished reading it though the character of Lydia Gwilt is a genius one. I'd advise to give this book a go, and to hold out until Lydia arrives on to the scene.

On a more thematic note, there is a lot in this novel (as with his other novels) about identity, the role of women, technology, geography, money and alienation. And where would a classic Collins novel be without opium?!

Don't do it, Lydia!
With Wilkie Collins, you dive into his stories and come up, gasping for air at the end, and never more so than with Armadale.

He shows great depth with the characters in Armadale which makes the ending of this lurid and dream-like novel disturbing, exciting and tragic in equal measure. The beautiful Lydia Gwilt is hugely appealing, even if she is one of the scariest of Wilkie Collin's women. I love Marion in The Woman in White but for sheer ruthlessness, Lydia takes the prize.