Is there an audiobook of The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition)?

Yes. The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Gabriel Woolf.

How long is the The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) audiobook?

The The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) audiobook runs 24 hr 43 min.

Is The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) on Kindle Unlimited?

No. The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on July 1, 2026.

The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) by Wilkie Collins book cover for the Book of the Day gothic book review

Our score

4.3/ 5

Excellent

Listen to The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

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EDITION PUBLISHEDMarch 2020

Genres

Fiction Gothic Mystery

Themes

Stolen identity and erasureThe legal helplessness of womenRespectability masking evilObsession and surveillance

The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition)

Name: The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition)
Price: 2.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins

A midnight encounter with a terrified woman in white pulls a young drawing-master into a conspiracy of stolen identity and asylums. Collins invented the sensation novel here, and it still grips like a vise.

The Review

Our take

Wilkie Collins opens The Woman in White with one of the most famous scenes in Victorian fiction: a young drawing-master walking home at night when a hand falls on his shoulder and he turns to find a woman dressed entirely in white, alone, frightened, and fleeing something she will not name. From that single uncanny image Collins unspools an intricate Gothic thriller of mistaken identity, forced marriage, false imprisonment, and a villain so charming you half forgive him while he ruins lives. Published in 1859, it more or less invented the sensation novel, the lurid, suspenseful, secret-laden form that taught popular fiction how to keep readers up past midnight, and its machinery has aged remarkably little.

Collins's masterstroke is structure. He tells the story through a sequence of narrators, each contributing the portion they witnessed, as though the reader were assembling testimony in a legal case. This not only builds suspense by controlling exactly what we know and when, it also gives us the novel's two greatest creations. Marian Halcombe, plain, brilliant, and braver than any man in the book, is one of the finest heroines of the era, and her sections crackle with intelligence. And Count Fosco, the corpulent, soft-spoken, canary-loving mastermind, is among the great villains in English literature, terrifying precisely because he is so genial. The contest between Marian and Fosco is the book's beating heart.

The plot turns on a conspiracy to rob a woman of her identity, her fortune, and her freedom, and Collins wrings genuine dread from the period's real horrors: the ease with which an inconvenient woman could be declared mad and locked away, the legal helplessness of wives, the way wealth and respectability could mask atrocity. There is detective work here long before the detective novel was codified, with the heroes painstakingly gathering proof against an enemy protected by law and reputation. The Gothic atmosphere, crumbling estates, midnight churchyards, the ever-present sense of watched and hunted, is laid on with confidence and never tips into mere decoration.

Why you should read

Readers who love Gothic atmosphere and slow-build dread
Fans of intricate, multi-narrator suspense
Anyone who relishes a charming, unforgettable villain
Those drawn to Victorian sensation and mystery
Readers wanting a propulsive classic with social bite

What to expect

A famous, uncanny opening on a moonlit road
A multi-narrator, testimony-style structure
One of literature's great heroines and great villains
Gothic menace tied to real social horrors
A long but accelerating, deeply suspenseful read

Readers coming from modern thrillers should expect a more expansive pace and a Victorian fondness for coincidence and elaborate explanation. But the suspense is real, the pages turn, and the central mystery of who the woman in white actually is, and how her fate binds to that of an heiress she resembles, pays off completely. More than a century and a half on, this remains a model of how to braid Gothic menace, social outrage, and pure plot into something irresistible. It is long, but it never feels its length once Fosco arrives, and few books have so thoroughly earned their reputation for keeping readers up past midnight. Collins effectively built the chassis that every later thriller would refine, and reading the original is a reminder of how thrilling those moves were before they hardened into formula. Give it the first hundred pages and it will not give you back your evenings.

Reviewed by Quinn · How our reviews are written

Our verdict

4.3/ 5

Excellent

Listen to The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

Buy on Amazon

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Prices may vary.

Where to read or listen

Is there an audiobook of The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition)?: Yes. The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Gabriel Woolf.
Listen to The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) free with an Audible trial
We earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
How long is the The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) audiobook?: The The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) audiobook runs 24 hr 43 min.
Is The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) on Kindle Unlimited?: No. The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) was not included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on July 1, 2026.
How much does The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) cost?: On Amazon: Kindle $2.99, Hardcover $14.51. Prices as of August 25, 2026 at 3:45 AM EDT and may change.

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Common questions

What is The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) about?: Wilkie Collins opens The Woman in White with one of the most famous scenes in Victorian fiction: a young drawing-master walking home at night when a hand falls on his shoulder and he turns to find a woman dressed entirely in white, alone, frightened, and fleeing something she will not name. From…
Is The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) worth reading?: We scored The Woman in White (AmazonClassics Edition) 4.3 out of 5. A midnight encounter with a terrified woman in white pulls a young drawing-master into a conspiracy of stolen identity and asylums. Collins invented the sensation novel here, and it still grips like a vise.