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The Legacy of Cain

Wilkie Collins

Book Overview: 

Eunice and Helena are sisters brought up by their father, the Reverend Abel Gracedieu. They grow up quietly and happily, until some dark secrets about their past come to light. One of the daughters is adopted: her mother was executed for murdering her husband. When the murdered husband's mistress and brother both enter the picture, a series of events is set into motion to finally reveal the truth. Which of the two young women must confront her difficult heritage?

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Book Excerpt: 
. . .Excuse me, Helena, I want to think."

.......

I went to bed in a vile humor, and slept badly; wondering, in the long wakeful hours, what new rebuff I should meet with on the next day.

At breakfast this morning I was agreeably surprised. No signs of anxiety showed themselves in my father's face. Instead of retiring to his study when we rose from the table, he proposed taking a turn in the garden: "You are looking pale, Helena, and you will be the better for a little fresh air. Besides, I have something to say to you."

Excitement, I am sure, is good for young women. I saw in his face, I heard in his last words, that the mystery of the lady was at last to be revealed. The sensation of languor and fatigue which follows a disturbed night left me directly.

My father gave me his arm, and we walked slowly up and down the lawn.

"When that lady called on me yesterday," he began, "you wanted to know who she was, and you were. . . Read More

Community Reviews

The Victorians were conflicted in many ways by the times in which they lived. It was the time of a second Renaissance: a great Empire, exploration, conquest, the joy of new and mechanised labour-saving inventions, the beginning of modern medical discoveries, the revolution that was taking place in t

Sadly, I put off writing up a review, and now, some three months later on, I don't remember enough to comment coherently. Basically, we have "issues" with a couple of young women who might have "tainted" blood by dint of their having a mother who was criminally insane. Something like that.

The book

Definitely worth reading but by no means his best. He forces his characters through unlikely, sometimes ridiculous contortions of motivation and behaviour to serve the novel's plot and didactic purpose. There's also scant evidence of the sheer beauty of Collins' prose at his best (e.g. lyrical, broo

Is evilness hereditary or not?
This is the question at the base of this novel by Wilkie Collins, not one of his best or well known but good enough to enjoy reading it.
Mr Gracedieu is a preacher that accepts to adopt the daughter of a woman hanged in charge of murder. But what if the daughter took fro

What can I honestly say about this book beyond the fact that, when you strip away the gimmick that he used to put a new silk hat on the same old pig, (in this case, the absurd and infuriating 'Nature Vs. Nurture' debate,) it's merely 'ANOTHER' Wilkie Collins *Novel?...

Another trope ridden idea for

-Very interesting premise underlies this book. There’s a constant debate of what has more influence on a person’s character - nature or nurture. In this story by the author, that question is raised with unanticipated results.
-We first come upon a scene in a prison, where a woman is facing the gallow

I've been on another Wilkie binge recently, with The Guilty River and The Haunted Hotel, which were pretty much in his potboiler collection (although still good compared to many writers) but he's definitely on form with The Legacy of Cain, a 19th century tale of nature v. nurture. He keeps switching

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