In The Midst Of... A Woman In White by Wilkie Collins

This is the story of what a Woman’s patience can endure, and what a Man’s resolution can achieve. (Walter Hartright – The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins)

Are you lost in the center of the mystery? Are you standing in a shadowed corner listening to voices down a dark and silent hall… heart beating and breath catching… what is the meaning of these events?

Are those footsteps? Have they read what you have written in your private journal just minutes ago.

That dull ache in your temple and the damp palms that you clasp together against your breast… surely they are not fevered… for then... who will protect her?

If you have experienced any of these emotions then you are happily deep into the story of The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins.

Twelve o’clock has struck; and I have just come back to close these pages, after looking out at my open window.

It is a still, sultry, moonless night. The stars are dull and few. The trees that shut out the view on all sides, look dimly black and solid in the distance, like a great wall of rock. I hear the croaking of frogs, faint and far off; and the echoes of the great clock hum in the airless calm, long after the strokes have ceased. I wonder how Blackwater Park will look in the daytime? I don’t altogether like it by night. (Marian Halcombe – The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins)

REMINDER - The next Jane Austen Tea Society Book Tea will be in two weeks – October 1, 2011!

If you haven’t started reading, it’s not too late! But you must make haste to be ready to enjoyably discuss this beloved classic over High Tea tastries, fragrant teas and the camaraderie of fellow lovers of great literature!

Old Friends To Trust & Old Authors To Read...

Age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read. Francis Bacon

The smell of old volumes lining fine wood shelves, gilded leather and double-shelved treasures… that is the neighborhood used bookstore.

Now, I do like to make purchases of new books whenever possible and to support the work of gifted authors and current releases. I revel in the smell of fresh print, shiny new dust jackets - bright, colorful & eye-catching – but there is something equally wonderful about diving nose first into an aisle of worn & pre-loved favorites and dusty unknown works waiting to be discovered.

It is immensely pleasing to turn pages touched before by a previous reader. And the occasional comment lightly penciled beside a deep & perplexing paragraph almost never fails to give me a smile… especially if I have had the same thought or a like-minded question.

If you haven’t already – you might venture out to your nearby Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million or local used bookstore to find a copy of The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins for our October read. Make sure that it’s one that feels good in your hands, carries well under your arm and – best of all - lures you into a quiet reading corner to lose yourself in this classic story.

"I have always held the old-fashioned opinion that the primary object of work of fiction should be to tell a story." Wilkie Collins