The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

I often complain about how many contemporary novels are not justified in being more than 400 pages. Collins's book (at 600 pages) does not fall into this category: the plot is engaging and fairly well-paced, but more importantly, the characters are well-drawn - particularly the modern Marian Halcombe and the evil Count Fosco. With such strengths, I was perfectly happy to suspend my sense of reality.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Dates: 1-15 September 2010