Is this the OG mystery novel?

When first faced with this very large mystery novel, I felt a sense of dread. Was this going to be another huge slog through a novel I didn’t really like. Boy was I wrong! I flew through this baby in three weeks, loving all 700+ pages. Written in the 1800s, I have to ask: Is The Woman in White the OG mystery novel?

Plot summary

Young art teacher, Walter Hartright, is living a very simple life. That is, until a promising job offer changes everything. Offered a lucrative job teaching two young ladies painting in Hampshire, he looks forward to good wages and little else. On his last night at home, he meets a woman in white lost on the road to London. That meeting will kickstart a roller coaster of events which will change Walter’s life forever and pitch him deep into intrigue, kidnapping and danger.

Nobel characters and a gripping storyline

What I loved was the nobility of the characters. They weren’t stuffy or fake in any way. All of them felt like real people, but good people. Walter, Marian and other characters showcased virtue and nobility throughout the book, while still showing personal quirks and weaknesses. When so many modern novels showcase less virtuous characters, it was very refreshing to reach something which highlighted the best in humanity.

I think the good characters also showed to advantage against the evil characters. Again, these were well drawn. Some were, perhaps, a little stage-villain-esque, but not in a way that ruined the flow. The utter selfishness of the evil characters showed the selflessness of the good, and I think it made for an excellent read.

The plot was also excellent. I was intrigued from beginning to end about the Secret and the identity of the Woman in White. I do wonder if this was the OG mystery novel, forming the basis for future mysteries. Walter and co are all amateur detectives. No police are involved, until the very end. The setting was also a grand country house, which harks to Agatha Christie’s favoured scene. Multiple narrators are skillfully blended to tell the story from all angles. It also gave a great sense of realism to the whole story. At times, I felt I was reading a true account, rather than a fictional mystery.

The mystery of women’s rights then and now

Okay, the controversial part. The Woman in White clearly showcases the inequality women faced in law in the 1800s. Key plot points involve women being committed to insane asylums (against their will and with little evidence), disinherited from family property and cut off from their own assets after marriage. To modern readers, it seems a strange, cruel world where women have so little protection in law.

However.

There was also so much appreciation for women. So much protection and care! It shows, perhaps, that the past held more extremes, rather than being solely an awful place for women. Walter’s care and reverence towards all women throughout this book is touching and inspiring. Even the villain of the piece maintains a surface level chivalry towards them.

Few women in today’s enlightened age would received such treatment from a good man today, let alone a bad one. With good men in their lives, women of the 1800s may have enjoyed far more respect than we do today. On the flip side, if the men in their lives were bad, it would truly have been a terrible trap to be caught in.

This is a massive topic, and probably not something I can cover in what is meant to be a book review. I would be interested to hear what others who have read the book think. It was just something that struck me. There was reverence and protection for women. The domestic sphere was raised high as a place of worthwhile endeavour and necessary work. But there was also so little protection against crime against and mistreatment of women.

That question, that interesting balance, gave an extra depth to what is already an enjoyable mystery novel. While it is long, I would highly recommend you get around The Woman in White. I don’t think you’ll regret it.