The Woman in White
Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White (1859) is a gothic fiction and historical fiction novel. The story is set in England, in the 19th century. It deals with apparitions, manners and customs, psychiatric hospital patients and inheritance and succession.
Open Library readers give it an average of 4.1 out of 5 from 21 ratings, and 359 more have it on their want-to-read list. It has been published in 653 editions across 12 languages. On Project Gutenberg it was downloaded 21,915 times in the last 30 days.
At about 544 pages, most readers finish it in 9–10 hours. It is in the public domain, so you can read it free on Project Gutenberg or listen to the 25 h 34 min LibriVox audiobook.
About The Woman in White
The Woman in White famously opens with Walter Hartright's eerie encounter on a moonlit London road. Engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie, Walter is drawn into the sinister intrigues of Sir Percival Glyde and his 'charming' friend Count Fosco, who has a taste for white mice, vanilla bonbons and poison. Pursuing questions of identity and insanity along the paths and corridors of English country houses and the madhouse, The Woman in White is the first and most influential of the Victorian genre that combined Gothic horror with psychological realism.
Free audiobook
The Woman in White — LibriVox recording, 25 h 34 min in 38 sections.
Public-domain recording by volunteer readers. Listen online, download MP3s or stream from the Internet Archive.
Opening line
“THIS IS the story of what a Woman's patience can endure, and of what a Man's resolution can achieve.”
Quick answers
Who wrote The Woman in White?
The Woman in White was written by Wilkie Collins and first published in 1859.
What genre is The Woman in White?
It is usually shelved as Gothic Fiction, Historical Fiction and Classic Love Stories.
How long is The Woman in White?
The median edition has 544 pages, about 9–10 hours of reading at 250 words per minute.
Is The Woman in White free to read?
Yes. It is in the public domain in the United States and can be read free on Project Gutenberg in EPUB, Kindle and HTML formats.
Is there a free audiobook of The Woman in White?
Yes — LibriVox volunteers recorded it; the recording runs 25 h 34 min.
What books are similar to The Woman in White?
Readers who like it often enjoy Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Northanger Abbey.
More by Wilkie Collins
All books →
The Haunted Hotel
Wilkie Collins
- FREE🎧
The Dead Secret
Wilkie Collins
Blind Love
Wilkie Collins, Hephell
- FREE🎧
Poor Miss Finch
Wilkie Collins
![Cover of The Christmas Stories [8 stories]](https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/9281194-M.jpg?default=false)
The Christmas Stories [8 stories]
Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins
- FREE🎧
Miss or Mrs.?
Wilkie Collins
Books like The Woman in White
- FREE🎧
Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë
- FREE🎧
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë
- FREE🎧
Northanger Abbey
Jane Austen
- FREE🎧
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde
- FREE🎧
The Turn of the Screw
Henry James
- FREE🎧
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
- FREE🎧
Sense and Sensibility
Jane Austen
- FREE
Great Expectations
Charles Dickens