Customer Reviews

The Lady Vanishes

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If life is a dream, it must surely be a nightmare from which one cannot awaken This would seem to be the major theme of this book, originally published in 1936 as The Wheel Spins, and from which Alfred Hitchcock made his great movie, The Lady Vanishes.

It's a good exercise to occasionally read a book from the past. Styles change, even in writing, and it can be educational as well as entertaining to take that step backwards.

Certainly Ms. White knows how to plot. That is, by far, the strongest element in this book. It's somewhat strange to read a book with so little dialogue and so much introspection. And, so many viewpoints. Nearly every character in the book has a chance for internal conversation with his or herself.

Unfortunately, in a mystery novel, there must be at least one sympathetic character for the reader to root for, and in this book, the most sympathetic of all is the dog, Sock. A sort of Old English Sheepdog, Sock waits patiently for the return of the daughter of the house, Winifred Froy, who delights in being away from home for months on end. Not just from home, but from country as well, and in the middle to Eastern Europe of the thirties, this can sometimes be a dangerous pastime.

Winifred is the `lady' of the title, but the main female protagonist is Iris Carr, a youngish Englishwoman about to return home after a holiday in an un-named country, perhaps in the Balkans, but filled with mountains and resorts. Her friends have all left a day or two before she does, leaving her to the company of a rector and his wife, a honeymooning couple, and a pair of elderly spinster sisters.

They all end up on the same train, heading for Trieste, and further embarkation. Iris is injured, thus putting her in the company of Winifred, and a strange assortment of natives, none of whom can speak any other language. When Winifred vanishes mid-trip, Iris is suddenly informed that not only has the lady not vanished, she never even existed at all! Thus the nightmare begins.

The suspense is somewhat weakened by the repetitiousness of Iris's meanderings--physically and emotionally. Finally, in spite of the well-meaning interfering young Hare, his friend the professor, and the villainous doctor, all ends as it should. I think it might be fun to find a video of the movie just to compare notes.

Originally titled 'The Wheel Spins', after the success of the Alfred Hitchcock movie, 'The Lady Vanishes' it is now frequently known under the new title. The story concerns a self absorbed young Englishwomen named Iris who is vacationing in eastern Europe during the inter-war period. On the train ride home she shares a compartment with another englishwomen returning home after working in the employ of an aristocratic family in the unnamed country (likely Yugoslavia). Iris falls asleep, and when she awakes the lady is gone and noone else on the train recalls seeing her. Iris supects foul play, and a conspiracy of silence among some of her fellow passengers, but she cannot persuade any other English passengers, who suspect that she is either hallucinating due to illness (at best), or a pathological liar (at worst).

A fairly entertaining story preying on the fears (and subtly satirizing them) of the tourist in a strange land. Now a days, the story would be about an American tourist in Africa. It's amusing to think that 75 years ago, eastern Europe was the dark and mysterious place, and the english were the rich and condescending tourists. 3.5 stars (rounded up for Amazon)

"The day before the disaster, Iris Carr had her first premonition of danger..." From her 1936 novel, The Wheel Spins, Alfred Hitchcock made one of his classic tales of mystery and suspense, The Lady Vanishes. It's the deceptively simple tale of a young girl returning to England after a vacation in Europe. Feeling alone, she befriends an elderly woman. When she suddenly vanishes without a trace, Iris tries to solve the mystery, only to discover that no one on board the train remembers seeing her. Although I found the story to be well plotted, the pacing of the book almost slows to a crawl at times, bogging down with inner monologues. Missing is the snappy banter that moves other books in this genre. As noted elsewhere, the dog has one of the better roles.

Ethel Lina White wrote several novels that were successfully turned into movies. Her heart in her throat, became The Unseen and Some Must Watch: A murder mystery with a likable heroine and an unexpected ending. is the basis for The Spiral Staircase.

This was a very interesting perspective of attitudes of the time. The character's arrogance which came from being young, beautiful, wealthy and English, was the most fascinating part of the story.