The Woman in White

Wilkie Collins's 1860 novel, "The Woman in White," is a pioneering work of sensation fiction and an early example of detective storytelling. The narrative unfolds when Walter Hartright, a young drawing master, encounters a mysterious woman dressed entirely in white on a moonlit London road. This unsettling encounter draws him into a complex web of secrets, deception, and conspiracy. As Hartright takes up a new teaching position at Limmeridge House in Cumberland, he discovers sinister connections between the enigmatic woman, his beautiful student Laura Fairlie, and her wealthy, manipulative fiancé, Sir Percival Glyde. The story delves into themes of identity theft, wrongful imprisonment, and the desperate fight for truth and justice, as Hartright and Laura's half-sister, Marian Halcombe, endeavor to uncover the dark machinations at play and restore what has been stolen.

Reading ease score: 78.5 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read.