Customer Reviews

Hide and Seek

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I loved this book. I have only read "The Haunted Hotel and Other Stories". I have yet to read "The Woman in White" and "The Moonstone" (which I will read soon enough...) so I am not most reliable Wilkie Collins fan (fast becoming one though).

I have read other Victorian authors but I find Collins to be the most enjoyable (not forgetting Braddon as well...equally beautiful in her writing). His prose is a pleasure to read, it feels as if he really treasured his gift for composition and narrative. Each paragraph resonates with warmth, tenderness, compassion and care. The mystery of the story draws you in while the characters revolve gently on the stage, moving from each with ease. I was swept up in the atmosphere, the pace. It is a novel you don't want to leave for too long. Work, family, hobbies... I simply wanted to push everything aside and get to the ending. Of course, sadly, when you come to the END you don't want it to end.

There is a bit melodrama here, I'll admit. (It was an early novel following "Basil".) And there are some coincidences here that fall into the "sensational" and "stretched" category. Otherwise, the great writing and the pathos for the characters make up for it. A must for Wilkie Collins fans and readers of Victorian literature. A must for Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts.

Wilkie Collins' first two novels,ANTONINA and BASIL,while displaying his talent for melodrama were stylistically amateurish.While BASIL has attracted the attention in recent years of scholars and readers,HIDE AND SEEK,Collins' third and according to the author-his best work written up to that point,has engendered little comment. HIDE AND SEEK was a turning point for Collins.Though the book contained some of the insipid prose writing that fatally marred the first two fictions,HIDE AND SEEK was the work in which Collins' power emerged.It tells the story of the destructiveness of religious and sexual hypocrisy and the bitter hatred and revenge that they have inspired.With the mysterious American begins the first in a line of sinister yet sympathetic avengers found in Collins' work-most notably NO NAME and ARMADALE.Despite its unevenness,HIDE AND SEEK is Collins' first memorable work and hopefully will receive the notice it deserves.

This is one of my favorite Collins novels. Mr. Valentine Blyth, an artist, is certainly a delightful character and his devotion to his invalid wife is moving. The Blyths's lives are changed when they meet a lovely orphan girl who is an exhibit at a circus because she is deaf and mute. The plot centers around Mary's mysterious background and the tragic story of her mother. The characters are well portrayed, although Mary, the Blyths' adopted daughter, is almost too perfect. The plot is quite melodramatic but interesting, a litle farfetched. I recommend this for anyone who has never read Wilkie Collins.

I've read quite a few Victorian novels, including the works of Trollope, Dickens, Eliot and Wilkie Collins. This isn't Collins' best or most compelling work (those honors belonging to The Moonstone and The Woman in White, of course), but it is still entertaining, well written and a pretty quick read. The story revolves around an adopted deaf and dumb girl, her adoptive parents and the mystery of her biological parentage. The characters are well drawn, but there is no grand love story as there usually is in Victorian novels.

The Kindle version I read was just fine. The dictionary worked, the font was fine, there were very few typos.

I have read all of Wilkie Collins's major works (The Woman in White, The Moonstone, No Name, Armadale) and a couple of his minor works (Basil, The Dead Secret). Hide and Seek was written before Wilkie Collins made a name for himself as a 'sensation novelist'. Unfortunately whereas Basil, another early novel, showed the promise of Collins's later years, Hide and Seek does him no justice.

Hide and Seek is a melodramatic story of a young deaf and dumb girl of illegitimate birth (..a big no-no in Victorian society) who, through much trauma, finds herself adopted by a kind middle-aged couple (..adding to the melodrama, the adoptive mother is handicapped). Not wanting to cause a scandal, the adoptive parents try to pass the girl as their natural daughter. However a stranger from the girl's distant past makes a sudden appearance and ... you can guess the rest.

Wilkie Collins often uses rather contrived elements in his stories. Often times they are not central to the theme, and so one can forgive the author for resorting to 'cheap tricks'. However in Hide and Seek Wilkie Collins goes WAY overboard with not one, but two 'one in a billion' coincidences which directly affects the plot. This ruined the book for me.

But otherwise Wilkie Collins does write in a pleasent, fluid style. His stories are readable without being too weighed-down with literary excess. He wrote literature (versus popular fiction) for the masses. So Hike and Seek might be a pleasent diversion for Wilkie Collins fans. For all others I strongly advise reading any one of his famous works (listed above) to see Mr. Collins at his finest.

Hide and Seek is the story of several people all connected to a young lady referred to as Madonna. The novel is written in different parts and tells the story of the people who encounter Madonna: Zach Thorpe, Valentine Blyth, Mat Marksman, and Mrs Peckover.

As the synopsis reveals Hide and Seek is about a deaf girl named Mary. Valentine Blyth and his invalid wife adopt her after Valentine sees Mary cruely treated in a circus act. Prior to living with Valentine Blyth, Mary lived with Mrs Peckover and her husband in a country circus. Mrs Peckover is the one person who holds the clues to who Mary really is since she found her as a baby.

Zach Thorpe is a light hearted and is all about mischief and contradicting his father, who imposed his strict religious doctrines on him as a child. The novel opens with the young Zach at the mercy of his religious father, who keeps him under lock and key until he can recite verses from the bible.

All of the characters tell the story of how Madonna came into their lives. I didn't really enjoy the beginning. It was a little boring. As I started reading it, I wished I had picked a different Collins novel. However, the ending tied the story together nicely.

Hide and Seek is not a bad read, however, don't let this be the first Wilkie Collins novel you read. This novel pales in comparison to WC's other novels. With that said, the novel is considered unique for the period because it deals with disability. Collins takes the time to explain how Madonna came to lose her hearing. He also explains Mrs Blyth's spinal illness.

Many times I come across lesser-known books by well-known authors that really surprise me, such as 'Hide and Seek'. As I read this book, I was reminded of having read a Somerset Maugham novel that was not very well-known, and enjoying it far more than such offerings as 'The Moon and Sixpence'.

'Hide and Seek' opens with a description of a high-spirited young boy getting himself into trouble with his father, and being punished at home, which leads a reader to believe that he, or his parents, are the 'central characters' of the rest of the work. However, this isn't the case.

The story goes on to introduce readers to an entertaining cast that includes the devoted and caring Mrs. Peckover, 'foster mother' to young Mary, a girl stricken deaf and dumb at an early age, who Mrs. Peckover takes into her care after Mary's mother dies, and attempts to raise her in the circus where Mr. and Mrs. Peckover are employed.

Also introduced are Valentine Blythe, a painter, and his wife Lavvie, a poor, sickly woman confined to her bed and room for the majority of her life.

The young boy from Chapter 1, Zachary Thorpe, also re-appears as a young man, still full of the same high-spiritedness and defiance of authority that he possessed as a child.

All of the above characters figure into the first half of the story in a significant way.....Mary's adoption by the Blythe's, Valentine's friendship with Zack , and Mary's girlish 'crush' on him...but none of them 'affect' the story as much as the mysterious Matthew Marksman who enters the tale at the mid-point of the novel...where a long-ago 'mystery' is revealed, and ultimately solved.

To give away any more of the story would spoil the ending. Wilkie Collins, while not (in my opinion) as gifted a storyteller as Charles Dickens, offers an entertaining story with 'Hide and Seek'....for fans of literature of the 19th Century, and of Wilkie Collins OR Charles Dickens, give 'Hide and Seek' a try. It's a clever story, with well-written and well-realized characters, and easy to follow. Even with the plot 'contrivances' that Collins worked in, it still doesn't spoil the story.

I like the way Wilkie Collins writes, the particular flow of words, and ideas... This novel is about an affectionate husband with an invalid wife, and a deaf adoptive daughter...they were a happy family, in spite of their problems... that is a very important message. You always may be happy, no matter your problems, if you have a positive attitude in life, love and non attachment; there is also a young man, who wanted to follow his way in art, instead of doing his father will; the characters are well portrayed, very interesting book; I recommend it.