Armadale from Wilkie Collins

[Anya]

I know very well that Collins never was nearly as famous as his colleague Dickens but I alway thought his work was on the same level. I started reading Collins because of my love for mystery, and that lead me to "the Moonstone" in the first place, but when I come across Armadale (I found an audiobook for free at Librivox) I immediatly wondered why that book is known so little even among readers of classic English books. The story is solid, it shows the difference between two young man, one of them easy hearted, always loud and happy, and his best friend, silent and dark, but in my opinion even a better person than the first one I spoke of. And than you have the bad character, a woman. She is always painted as wicked, evil, but still I couldn't help but feeling sorry for her. I understood what took her in that situation, and hoped for a chance to her rescue... Overall she was my favourite character, the one I felt closer to. She alone was worth the reading for me..and it's a long read, for sure!

[La Stilla]

I love this book! It has well-painted characters, especially the one of Ozias Midwinter and Lydia Quilt and their contrasts Eleanor and Armadale. I thought that if in Collins' time existed telenovelas, it would be a great one.