BookTrail at the Movies

Tonight sees the adaptation of Wilkie Collins novel The Woman in White on BBC1. How will the Tv programme compare to the book? Well,it’s a great story however it’s told and there are more than a few good reasons why, if you haven’t read it you should, and if you have, you should read it again:

It’s set in a gothic house

There’s some really dastardly villians in the book

It looks at the treatment of women and how they were at the mercy of men in every part of their lives

When a woman married, all her wealth and property were automatically transferred to her husband

Women are expected to draw and paint and not deal with monetary issues or those of property

It’s set somewhere fictional – Limmeridge in Cumberland – Cumberland is modern day Cumbria to the west of Northumberland but there’s many stately and old homes in the area that you can visit a few to feel the essence of the novel and feel you’re walking its dusty and gothic corridors

It is considered to be among the first mystery novels and is widely regarded as one of the first (and finest) in the genre of “sensation novels”.

It’s already been on the TV starring Andrew Lincoln as Walter Hartwright (1997)

There’s also a West End play and musical currently on in London

The use of sending women to an asylum reveals just how these places were used and abused at the time – quite revealing when you think about it

A crumbling old house, a mansion with secrets, men in top hats and suits plotting secrets, horses and carriages, personal tutor to two sisters…..and many secrets which go back decades…..it’s the ultimate gothic story

The secrets within rich families come home to roost

There is so much to love about this story. Enjoy it on the small screen very soon indeed!

BookTrail the Novel –  The Woman in White