15 h 56 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if clearing your husband's name means uncovering the past he begs you to leave alone?
Valeria Brinton marries Eustace Woodville for love, despite doubts among her friends and relations. But her husband guards a Scottish past. His first wife, Sara Macallan, died by arsenic at Gleninch, and the trial leaves him with a verdict of Not Proven. Valeria refuses to let that uncertainty stand.
In Wilkie Collins's The Law and the Lady, a young wife takes the detective's place. Her search brings her to Mr. Playmore, a lawyer who knows the trial, and Misserimus Dexter, Eustace's unpredictable friend. Told through Valeria's eyes, the mystery asks what a wife can do when love demands answers and her husband demands silence.
What you’ll discover
- A wife who refuses silence Follow Valeria as she chooses a difficult search over her husband's plea to bury the past.
- A verdict without peace Explore the uncertainty of Not Proven, the Scottish verdict that drives Valeria to seek more.
- Strange and shifting allies Meet a knowledgeable lawyer and an unpredictable friend as Valeria searches for answers.
- Marriage under pressure See love tested by secrets in a world that expects husbands to govern their wives.
- The puzzle through her eyes Learn each fact alongside Valeria, sharing her doubts as she works to clear Eustace's name.
Who will love it
For readers who love Victorian sensation fiction, courtroom puzzles and strong heroines who refuse to sit still. It will also reward anyone curious about how law and marriage worked in the 1870s.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A bride finds her husband has a secret
- Not Proven is a verdict that clears no one
- Valeria decides to prove his innocence
- The search leads through strange and shifting allies
- A woman fights a world built by men
- Collins tells a puzzle through voice and surprise
Who’s who
- Valeria BrintonA bright, stubborn young Englishwoman who marries for love and then sets out to clear her husband's name.
- Eustace WoodvilleValeria's husband, a proud and troubled man who hides a Scottish past and fears what it will do to their marriage.
- Misserimus DexterEustace's invalid friend, quick witted and unpredictable, whose strange household draws Valeria into the case.
- Mr. PlaymoreA Scottish lawyer who knows the law and the old trial, and who can help or hinder Valeria's search.
- Sara MacallanEustace's first wife, whose death by arsenic at Gleninch led to the trial that haunts the story.
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The Law and the Lady
by Wilkie Collins · 1875
A young wife confronts a Scottish verdict that leaves her husband's innocence in doubt and searches for the truth.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A bride finds her husband has a secret
Valeria Brinton is a young Englishwoman who falls in love with Eustace Woodville. Some of her friends and relations doubt the match, and Eustace himself seems oddly guarded about his past. Valeria is strong willed, and she marries him anyway, trusting that love will answer every question.
The marriage begins happily, but small signs of trouble appear almost at once. Valeria notices that the name her husband uses is not the one he was born with. Collins uses this small oddity to set the story in motion, much as he does elsewhere with a stray detail that nobody can explain.
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What is The Law and the Lady about?
It tells of Valeria Brinton, who discovers soon after her wedding that her husband was tried in Scotland for his first wife's death. The jury returned a Not Proven verdict, and Valeria sets out to find the truth.
What does Not Proven mean in The Law and the Lady?
Not Proven is a verdict once available in Scottish courts. It means the jury was not convinced of guilt, but it does not declare the accused innocent. The accused goes free, but doubt remains.
Who is Misserimus Dexter?
He is Eustace's invalid friend, a clever and eccentric man whose odd manner and strange household make him one of the most memorable figures in the novel. Valeria must deal with him in her search.
The author
Wilkie Collins
1824–1889 · English mystery novelist
Wilkie Collins was a British novelist and playwright born in London in 1824. He lived mainly in London and died there in 1889. His novels include The Woman in White (1859–1860), The Moonstone (1868), The Law and the Lady (1875), and The Black Robe (1881).
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