Man and Wife

A very long book, with so much exposition and irrelevant text that it implies Collins was paid by the word. It moves slowly and painfully through the pitiful story of a young woman in trouble who, awaiting the seducer who's promised to marry her, is met instead, under compromising conditions, by her best friend's fiancé, a messenger from the reluctant groom. While the tale, refreshingly for the period, heaps nearly all the blame on the man instead of dwelling on the sins of a fallen woman, it's just too drawn out. The novel offers a strong education, complete with lengthy legal quotes, on the unhappy plight of married women under inequitable19th-century marriage laws in Ireland, Scotland and England (and an interesting recipe for olives), but it drags.

When Collins is good he can be very good. Man and Wife, while showing a Victorian tendency toward over-dramatization, is for me one of his better novels.

He shows what seems to be thorough knowledge of certain aspects of British law--in this case the contrast between Scotch and English marital law. When he strays into the medical field, however, he's far less impressive.