- Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (25 Mar 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0192836595
- ISBN-13: 978-0192836595
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 821,455 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
At the centre of Hide and Seek (1854) a secret waits to be revealed. Why should the apparently respectable painter Valentine Blyth refuse to account for the presence in his household of the beautiful girl known as Madonna? It is not until his young friend Zack Thorpe, who is in rebellion against his repressive father, gets into bad company and meets a mysterious stranger that the secret of Madonna can be unravelled. Wilkie Collins's third novel, dedicated to his life-long friend Dickens, is a story in which excitement is combined with charm and humour. In its mixture of the everyday and the extraordinary, Hide and Seek forms a bridge between the domestic novel and the sensational fiction for which Collins later became famous.
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First Sentence
AT a quarter to one o'clock, on a wet Sunday afternoon, in November 1837, Samuel Snoxell, page to Mr Zachary Thorpe, of Bare grove Square, London, left the area gate with three umbrellas under his arm, to meet his master and mistress at the church door, on the conclusion of morning service. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
AT a quarter to one o'clock, on a wet Sunday afternoon, in November 1837, Samuel Snoxell, page to Mr Zachary Thorpe, of Bare grove Square, London, left the area gate with three umbrellas under his arm, to meet his master and mistress at the church door, on the conclusion of morning service. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Warning: this review contains spoilers
'Hide and Seek' is an early novel of Wilkie Collins published in 1854, written before he hit the big time with 'The Woman in White' in 1860.
A painter, Valentine Blyth, visits a circus where he is captivated by one of the performers, a deaf mute girl, whom he adopts. The plot of the novel concerns the girl's parentage and the efforts of one Mat Marksman to discover the whereabouts of the man who abandoned her mother before she was born.
One gets the sense of Collins feeling his way in this early novel and of trying to be different, almost experimental. In the first half, the narrative moves back and forth in time (one wonders whether he was influenced here by 'Wuthering Heights' which had only been published a few years previously) but this only serves to hold up the story. Each of the characters is delineated by an idiosyncrasy: Mr Thorpe the religious zealot, the neurotic Valentine Blyth who seems only to be able to form relationships with women who are in some way disabled (his bedridden wife and the deaf mute girl he adopts), the moody, saturnine Mat Marksman, the ebullient Zack Thorpe.
Certain aspects of the book do stretch credibility. Characters too often happen to be in the right place at the right time, whether it be in a drinking den, a graveyard or near a writing bureau. One of the most intriguing aspects of the book is the relationship between Blyth, his wife and Madonna. Because of the conventions of the time in which he was writing, Collins has to dissemble. Are Blyth and Madonna having a sexual relationship? Is Mrs Blyth aware of this? Or is Blyth asexual?
The strongest parts of this weak novel are the events concerning the discovery of Madonna's parentage. Collins comes into his own here and these sections of the book make for a good read.
Hide and Seek can really only be recommended to Collins' aficionados or to those lovers of the Victorian novel who have read all the top ranking ones and need to move on to those in the second rank.
'Hide and Seek' is an early novel of Wilkie Collins published in 1854, written before he hit the big time with 'The Woman in White' in 1860.
A painter, Valentine Blyth, visits a circus where he is captivated by one of the performers, a deaf mute girl, whom he adopts. The plot of the novel concerns the girl's parentage and the efforts of one Mat Marksman to discover the whereabouts of the man who abandoned her mother before she was born.
One gets the sense of Collins feeling his way in this early novel and of trying to be different, almost experimental. In the first half, the narrative moves back and forth in time (one wonders whether he was influenced here by 'Wuthering Heights' which had only been published a few years previously) but this only serves to hold up the story. Each of the characters is delineated by an idiosyncrasy: Mr Thorpe the religious zealot, the neurotic Valentine Blyth who seems only to be able to form relationships with women who are in some way disabled (his bedridden wife and the deaf mute girl he adopts), the moody, saturnine Mat Marksman, the ebullient Zack Thorpe.
Certain aspects of the book do stretch credibility. Characters too often happen to be in the right place at the right time, whether it be in a drinking den, a graveyard or near a writing bureau. One of the most intriguing aspects of the book is the relationship between Blyth, his wife and Madonna. Because of the conventions of the time in which he was writing, Collins has to dissemble. Are Blyth and Madonna having a sexual relationship? Is Mrs Blyth aware of this? Or is Blyth asexual?
The strongest parts of this weak novel are the events concerning the discovery of Madonna's parentage. Collins comes into his own here and these sections of the book make for a good read.
Hide and Seek can really only be recommended to Collins' aficionados or to those lovers of the Victorian novel who have read all the top ranking ones and need to move on to those in the second rank.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
While not in the same class as No Name, this is a well written and moving novel. It shows Collins as against the constraints of religion and the snobbery attached to art criticism. It shows his great humanity.
The characters are well defined and loveable. I cannot share the criticism of the other reviewers - some of the gothic plots in Collins's novels beggar description - this one is fairly down to earth.
As with so many of his works - wait for a winter's afternoon, curl up by the fire and enjoy!
The characters are well defined and loveable. I cannot share the criticism of the other reviewers - some of the gothic plots in Collins's novels beggar description - this one is fairly down to earth.
As with so many of his works - wait for a winter's afternoon, curl up by the fire and enjoy!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I shouldn't really be reviewing this novel. In fact there is no way that this is going to be a review because I didn't get very far with it. I am an avid Wilkie Collins fan, having loved all 4 of his well known works and also The Dead Secret. But I found this so turgid and boring that I gave up. I would just like to advise any other Wilkie Collins fans to give this one a miss, and anyone wishing to read one for the first time, to steer clear of this one as it would give the wrong impression of his books.
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