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No Name (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Virginia Blain (Editor) "THE hands on the hall-clock pointed to half-past six in the morning..." (more)
Key Phrases: moral agriculturist, brown alpaca dress, white silk bag, Miss Garth, Noel Vanstone, Captain Wragge (more...)

4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

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Paperback $9.31 Usually ships within 1 to 4 weeks. Published March 4, 1987	Paperback, March 4, 1987	$9.31	$8.75	$0.25
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Collins's 1862 novel offers up the fate of Magdalen Vanstone, an illegitimate child who struggles to reclaim her dignity after falling from grace in Victorian society.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

Condemned by Victorian critics as immoral, but regarded today as a novel of outstanding social insight, No Name shows William Wilkie {ollins as the height of his literary powers. It is the story of two sisters, Magdalen and Norah, who discover after the deaths of their dearly beloved parents that the parents were not married at the time of their births. Disinherited and ousted from their estate, they must fend for themselves and either resign themselves to their fate or determine to recover their wealth by whatever means.

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Product Details

Paperback: 784 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 25, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 019283388X
ISBN-13: 978-0192833884
Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.8 x 1.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces

Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #719,116 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in these categories: (What's this?)
#81 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( C ) > Collins, Wilkie
#95 in Books > Literature & Fiction > British > Classics > Collins, Wilkie

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Wilkie Collins

William Wilkie Collins

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
THE hands on the hall-clock pointed to half-past six in the morning. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
moral agriculturist, brown alpaca dress, white silk bag, honour the admiral, tattered old book, curly lips, whole residue

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Miss Garth, Noel Vanstone, Captain Wragge, Miss Vanstone, Miss Bygrave, North Shingles, Michael Vanstone, Admiral Bartram, Vauxhall Walk, George Bartram, Francis Clare, Miss Marrable, Secret Trust, Andrew Vanstone, Lincoln's Inn, Rosemary Lane, Baliol Cottage, Oriental Cashmere Robe, Portland Place, Aaron's Buildings, Evergreen Lodge, Miss Magdalen Vanstone, Horatio Wragge, Nobody's Children, Pints of the Compass

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 100 books:

Woman in White by Wilkie Collins on 8 pages
The Woman in White (Bantam Classics) by Wilkie Collins on 8 pages
Hide and Seek (Oxford World's Classics) by Wilkie Collins in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
Wilkie Collins: The Critical Heritage (The Critical Heritage Series) by Norman Page in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
Man and Wife (The World's Classics) by Wilkie Collins in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)

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100 books cite this book:

The Cambridge Companion to Wilkie Collins (Cambridge Companions to Literature) by Jenny Bourne Taylor on 23 pages
Unequal Partners: Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Victorian Authorship by Lillian Nayder on 11 pages
The Penguin Classic Baby Name Book by Carol Wallace on 6 pages
In the Arms of Morpheus: The Tragic History of Morphine, Laudanum and Patent Medicines by Barbara Hodgson on 4 pages
Basil: a novel by Wilkie Collins in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	52% buy the item featured on this page: No Name (Oxford World's Classics) 4.6 out of 5 stars (18)
	17% buy Armadale (Oxford World's Classics) 4.5 out of 5 stars (16) $10.04
	14% buy The Dead Secret (Oxford World's Classics) 4.1 out of 5 stars (10) $10.85
	11% buy No Name (Oxford World's Classics) $10.17

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Customer Reviews

18 Reviews

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4 star:		(5)
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4.6 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a sadly neglected gem..., August 29, 2000

By	lazza (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Wilkie Collins is known primarily for two novels: 'The Woman in White' and 'The Moonstone'. Both novels are indeed quite enjoyable. However I found them to be very different, and almost "unbalanced". 'The Woman in White' is a complex novel, a rollercoaster of plot-twists at a hysterical pace. On the other hand, 'The Moonstone' is a slow-paced mystery which moves towards a satisfying conclusion. 'No Name' fits nicely in between.

'No Name' is a story about how two sisters go on different paths on coming to terms with life after being mistreated by a cruel twist of fate, and being the victim of inhumane Victorian-era society (and its laws). The elder sister carries on without mishap, while the younger sister seeks justice at any expense ... to the extent of performing unethical and criminal activities herself. While seeking justice she encounters some rather equally cunning individuals (..another woman in particular), and the story unfolds into a battle of who can outfox whom. And it becomes abundantly clear that the person viewed initially as the victim is actually very cruel.

Finally, I have to recommend the Penguin Classic version of this novel for one simple reason: its cover is great. It is a painting of a young woman ("Miss Dene") who has such a sad, reflective expression on her face that one feels she is indeed the poor, suffering (yet malicious) younger sister Magdalen.

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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Mr. Vanstone's daughters are Nobody's Children", March 29, 2005

By	toriem "a work in progress" (Cerritos, CA) - See all my reviews

4 1/2 stars, but I rounded up.

No Name is the story and portrait of Magdalen Vanstone... or as Wilkie introduces his novel in the preface, "Here is one more book that depicts the struggle of a human creature, under those opposing influences of Good and Evil, which we have all felt, which we have all known." It's a fairly accurate description as throughout the course of the story, we see the evolution of the character of our heroine; we see her heading down a shady path, but yet somehow from a 21st century perspective, Magdalen manages to make it seem not so immoral. Often times I see her trying to act as morally as she can in the unmoral situations she chooses to involve herself in. Part of No Name's strength, arises from the deftness in which Collins creates Magdalen. She posseses such an enormous range in character and emotion that if No Name were ever to be made into a movie, actresses would vie to have her role.

When Magdalen and her sister's inheritance are taken away due to unexpected familial circumstances, Magdalen resolutely follows a reckless path of revenge. While not exactly your Victorian equivalent of your "Kill Bill," the novel seems closer in spirit to Alexander Dumas's novel: The Count of Monte Cristo. Of course it doesn't have the swashbuckling quality of Dumas's novel as there are no fight scenes to the death. Collins's novel is set in a domestic scene with a female protagonist and the action is far tamer. It is equally gripping though because it's the chase of the revenge that's the fun part; the deceit and swindling involved, the careful measuring of your enemy's abilities that is part of charm. Collins was genius to embroil a female in a revenge type of plot and I'm just amazed at how much free agency Collins bestows upon Magdalen - a female living in Victorian times. He completely cuts her off from the ties of society and gives her free reign.

While I was reading, I felt that the novel could be loosely separated into 3 quite different parts - each with it's own distinct pacing and mood. It goes quite well with the divisions of the triple-decker novel they had long ago. I'm not spoiling much because the novel covers such massive ground, but the first part covers the idyllic times of the Vanstone family and we come to see how the inheritance is stripped from the Vanstone daughters. The second part (the best and my favorite) follows Magdalen as she pursues her revenge with the superior help of the rogue Captain Wragge, a self-proclaimed, "moral agriculturist" (I'll leave you to discover what he means by it). Wragge is one of Collins' best creations (he even beats out Count Fosco in my mind). A short, brown eyed, green eyed creature with enormous talents and verbal abilities, he is very resourceful, calculates very well, and is able to adapt quickly to whatever is needed in each situation. One of the highlights of No Name resides in Wragge's chronicle describing Magdalen's progress. The other crowning achievement is the cat and mouse game played between Captain Wragge and Madame Lecount (the housekeeper and keeper of the interest of Magdalen's victim). Both are directors of people and there is a large amount of plotting and counter-plotting that goes on that keeps the pages turning. It is here that No Name rivals that of The Woman in White, and if Collins had continued to write in this vein, No Name could have been on an equal footing to Woman in White.

However it is in the third part -dealing with the fallout of the revenge- that No Name becomes more flawed. I would say especially so in the ending. Quite a lot of Victorians found the ending distasteful, but the modern reader might find it a little dissatisfying for a completely different reason.

As No Name was delivered right after Collins's magnum opus, The Woman in White, there was a possibility of being in its shadow. However, Collins more than safely overcomes such a hurdle. He's crafted an entirely different story. Although in a way, I almost see No Name as an inverse of Woman in White. Think of a story looking and rooting from the side of Sir Percieval and Count Fosco--the nefarious plotting to take away an inheritance--and in a way, it is the story of Madgalen and Captain Wragge. Of course our sympathies are on completely different sides and this is due to the strength of Collins's characterizations. But that said, the books feel almost nothing alike.

In the end, although not as tightly plotted as The Woman in White and a bit more flawed, No Name is more ambitious, covers more ground, more character development, a lot more stories, introduces way more secondary characters, and is pretty amazing as a whole. It's a massive novel in which Collins fleshes out so many people (and for Collins that usually means, so many people to like) and Collins is able to accomplish a measurable change and growth in the character of Magdalen. The more I reflect on the novel, the better it gets for me, and the more amazed I am at all that Wilkie attempted and accomplished.

I recommend reading the Oxford World's Classics edition for its excellent introduction by Virginia Blain. It hits spot-on about everything that is good and bad about the novel as well as going into the themes of acting and of plotting (both human plotting and writer plotting).

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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Accessible Victorian, March 31, 2000

By	Robert Kennedy "robkennedy" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Wilkie Collins holds a unique spot among the Victorian novelists. His intricate plots don't dawdle -- they move, with cliffhangers throughout. And, he has a remarkably clear writing style that makes his works almost as accessible as those of a modern thriller writer. "No Name" has both plots galore and clarity, along with deeper character sketches than "The Woman in White" and "The Moonstone". I rate it slightly below its more famous siblings because of a) the ending -- which was rather too contrived, even for Collins -- and b) a bit too much melodrama as Magdalen approaches her nuptials. To potential first time Collins readers, I recommend starting with "The Moonstone" and then moving to "The Woman in White". If you enjoy these, you should definitely proceed to "No Name".

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Wilkie Collins
I'm only half-way through right now, but this is definitely classic Wilie Collins. I love Collins' style of writing; the way he uses words, and phrases, and builds suspense is top... Read more

Published 1 month ago by C. Schakel

5.0 out of 5 stars You know a book is good when you don't want it to end
No Name is the third book I've read from Wilkie Collins, the first two being The Moonstone and The Woman in White, which are considered to be the two most popular of his novels... Read more

Published 5 months ago by fra7299

4.0 out of 5 stars All is fair in love and war, especially war.
No name is somewhat of a social commentary on nineteenth-century laws towards illegitimate children. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Elizabeth

5.0 out of 5 stars Unjustly forgotten
Victorian novelist Wilkie Collins is known today primarily for two novels, "The Woman in White" and "The Moonstone. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Carla Lilie

3.0 out of 5 stars A good book, but not one I'd read again
When both of their parents die in close succession, Magdalene and Norah Vanstone are shocked to find themselves left with no inheritance, due to fact that their parents were not... Read more

Published 15 months ago by Genevieve Hayes

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Example of Christian/Victorian Literature
It should be obvious when a sinner by the name of Magdalen is rescued by a gentlemen named Kirke that there is more than meets the eye going on in the novel. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Jonathan Cavender

5.0 out of 5 stars A neglected gem
I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that until recently I had never heard of this book. However, I saw it on Harold Bloom's list of books comprising the "Western Canon" and, since... Read more

Published 23 months ago by William J. Fickling

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Ninteenth Century Chessmatch - One of Wilkie's Best
Wilkie Collins, best know for "The Moonstone" (which I have read and loved) and "The Woman in White" (which I have not read yet) is at his best in "No Name". Read more

Published on January 16, 2005 by John Benintendi

5.0 out of 5 stars tons of fun
This is the best-plotted book I have ever read. The intricacies of the ingenious cat-and-mouse game kept me unable to put the book down (despite its length, and my general... Read more

Published on December 26, 2002 by lizardcub

4.0 out of 5 stars Page-turner
Engrossing, densely textured read.
Could claim greatness on the basis of the Wragges and Madame alone, but also contains one of the most original heroines in Victorian... Read more

Published on November 20, 2002 by Owlette2008

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