15 h 56 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 15 h 56 minPaperback · 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
You will love this book if you enjoy Victorian mysteries, determined heroines, courtroom scenes, eccentric side characters and a plot that builds clue by clue.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A marriage opens into a mystery
- A false name demands an explanation
- Doubt drives Eustace from his wife
- Valeria begins to question the evidence
- A helpful witness becomes less trustworthy
- Loyalty does not mean submission
- A verdict follows a man home
- One voice gathers many kinds of evidence
- Determination keeps the search moving
Who’s who
- Valeria BrintonA clergyman's niece who marries Eustace, learns his secret and sets out to prove his innocence, whatever her family and friends advise.
- Eustace MacallanHer husband, who married under the name Woodville and was once tried for his first wife's death, and who leaves to spare Valeria.
- Mrs. MacallanEustace's sharp-tongued, kind-hearted mother, who warns Valeria against the quest yet comes to admire her courage.
- BenjaminValeria's late father's loyal clerk, who grumbles at her schemes and helps her anyway.
- Major Fitz-DavidA vain old admirer of women who holds a promise to Eustace and offers Valeria an unusual chance to search.
- Miserrimus DexterA legless, brilliant, changeable friend of Eustace who testified at the trial and holds ideas of his own about the death.
- ArielDexter's cousin and servant, silent and slow, whose love for her master is fierce and total.
- Mr. PlaymoreA cheerful Edinburgh lawyer, careful with money, who helped prepare Eustace's defense and who sees the case in a new light.
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The Law and the Lady
by Wilkie Collins · 1875
A bride signs the wrong name on her wedding day, and within a week her husband vanishes behind a verdict of Not Proven.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What would you do if your husband of six days left you, and the reason was a crime he never committed? Valeria Brinton has just married Eustace Woodville in a gloomy London church, where a mistake in the register hints at trouble.
The Law and the Lady at a glance
- Reading time
- About 8 h 55 min7 h 5 min fast, 10 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 127,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1875by Wilkie Collins
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A wedding that begins with a wrong name
Valeria Brinton marries Eustace Woodville in a damp, dreary London church. Almost nobody comes. Her uncle, the vicar Starkweather, performs the service, and her father's old clerk Benjamin gives her away.
At the register, Valeria signs her married name instead of her maiden name. Her aunt calls it a bad beginning, and Valeria feels uneasy until her husband's hand reassures her. Her husband's hand trembles too when he signs.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1875
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 10 h 20 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Collins, Wilkie. The Law and the Lady. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-law-and-the-lady.
Collins, W. (2026). The law and the lady. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-law-and-the-lady (Original work published 1875)
Collins, Wilkie. The Law and the Lady. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-law-and-the-lady.
@book{collins2026law,
author = {Collins, Wilkie},
title = {The Law and the Lady},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-law-and-the-lady},
note = {First published 1875}
}
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What is The Law and the Lady about?
A young bride, Valeria, learns days after her wedding that her husband was tried for poisoning his first wife. The jury returned a verdict of Not Proven, and she sets out to find the real truth.
Who is Miserrimus Dexter?
He is a brilliant, eccentric friend of Eustace, born without legs, who moves in a wheeled chair. He gave evidence at the trial and holds ideas of his own. His moods swing quickly from tender to wild.
What does the verdict Not Proven mean?
It is a Scottish verdict meaning the jury was not convinced of guilt but did not declare the accused innocent. In the book it leaves a lasting stain on Eustace's name and drives the plot.
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).
More by Wilkie Collins
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