Wilkie COLLINS : The dead secret

On her deathbed, Mrs Treverton, the wife of the wealthy Captain Treverton, dictates a confession to her maid, Sarah Leeson, to pass to her husband and makes her swear that she will never destroy the letter or let it leave Porthgenna Tower. Leeson, however, hides the letter and flees, and Captain Treverton dies without ever discovering the secret. However, his daughter Rosamund discovers there is a secret locked up in the mysterious Myrtle Room, and sets her mind to discover what it is.

 

You see, I was a bit anxious before starting to read this novel. I previously read The moonstone, my first Wilkie Collins, and had mixed feelings about it : among the various narrators of the story, some were awfully funny and quaint yet others were really formulaic. Then I read The haunted hotel for a group read and didn't care much about it - fortunately, it was short. So The dead secret was a really good surprise, I really enjoyed it very much ! Some characters in there were Dickensian (Treverton and Shrowl - who could have been called Scowl), Mr Phippen and his health, the stewart at Porthgenna (I could almost hear him talk disdainfully), uncle Joseph was delightful, the young lady and her blind husband were lively, adorable and felt real, the servants were fun to read about, the only person I liked less was Rosamund. 

 

The secret isn't hard to guess, it's not the main interest here, the characters are. The whole of them are a joy to read, well, except poor Rosamund who is really melodramatic. I pitied her yet I could hardly stand her in real life. I'm very happy to have read this book, it turned out better than I expected !  

 

Quotes :

 

"Miss Sturch never laughed, and never cried, but took the safe middle course of smiling perpetually. She smiled when she came down on a morning in January, and said it was very cold. She smiled when she came down on a morning in July, and said it was very hot.(...) If Shakespeare had come back to life again, and had called at the vicarage at six o'clock on Saturday evening, to explain to Miss Sturch exactly what his views were in composing the tragedy of Hamlet, she would have smiled and said it was extremely interesting, until the striking of seven o'cock ; at which time she would have left him in the middle of a sentence to superintend the husemaid in the verification of the washing-book."

 

"Timon of Athens retreated from an ungrateful world to a cavern by the sea-shore, vented his misanthropy in magnificent poetry, and enjoyed the honour of being called "My Lord".  Timon of London took refuge from his species in a detached house at Bayswater - expressed his sentiments in shabby prose - and was only addressed as "Mr Treverton". The one point of resemblance which it is possible to set agains these points of contrast between the two Timons consisted in this : that their misanthropy was, at least, genuine. Both were incorrigible haters of mankind."