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Cover of No Name

Mystery

No Name

by Wilkie Collins

After two sisters are unexpectedly and shockingly disinherited, the headstrong younger sister takes increasingly desperate measures to try to wrest back her family’s fortune.

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First published
1862
Length
265,317 words
Reading time
About 18 hr 26 min
Language
English (US)

About the book

No Name is set in England during the 1840s. It follows the fortunes of two sisters, Magdalen Vanstone and her older sister Norah. Their comfortable upper-middle-class lives are shockingly disrupted when, after the sudden deaths of their parents, they discover that they are disinherited and left without either name or fortune. The headstrong Magdalen vows to recover their inheritance, by fair means or foul. Her increasing desperation makes her vulnerable to a wily confidence trickster, Captain Wragge, who promises to assist her in return for a cut of the profits.

No Name was published in serial form like many of Wilkie Collins’ other works. They were tremendously popular in their time, with long queues forming awaiting the publication of each episode. Though not as well known as his The Woman in White and The Moonstone , No Name is their equal in boasting a gripping plot and strong women characters (a rarity in the Victorian era). Collins’ mentor Charles Dickens is on record as considering it to be far the superior of The Woman in White .

the Read4Max reading text contains approximately 265,317 words arranged in 59 navigable sections.

About the author

Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins (1824–1889) is described by Wikidata as British writer (1824-1889), with citizenship or national association recorded as United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Recorded occupations include writer, journalist, novelist, playwright, poet lawyer, and barrister. Languages recorded for Wilkie Collins include English. Wikidata lists The Woman in White and The Moonstone among Wilkie Collins's notable works. Open Library identifies The Moonstone as a leading work in its author record. Open Library catalogs 685 works under this author record. The Read4Max catalog currently includes Basil, No Name, The Dead Secret, The Haunted Hotel, The Law and the Lady, The Moonstone, and The Woman in White under Wilkie Collins's authorship.

1824–1889

Reading options

  • A complete text with direct section navigation in the browser reader.
  • A downloadable EPUB for phones, tablets, desktop reading apps, and compatible ereaders.
  • Book and contributor metadata are checked against the source edition before indexing.

Themes and ideas

  • Orphans
  • England
  • Psychological fiction
  • Young women
  • Sisters
  • Disinheritance
  • Illegitimacy

Table of contents

Open reader
Show all 59 sections
  1. Dedication
  2. Preface
  3. No Name
  4. The First Scene
  5. II
  6. III
  7. IV
  8. V
  9. VI
  10. VII
  11. VIII
  12. IX
  13. X
  14. XI
  15. XII
  16. XIII
  17. XIV
  18. XV
  19. Between the Scenes
  20. The Second Scene
  21. II
  22. III
  23. Between the Scenes
  24. The Third Scene
  25. II
  26. III
  27. IV
  28. Between the Scenes
  29. The Fourth Scene
  30. II
  31. III
  32. IV
  33. V
  34. VI
  35. VII
  36. VIII
  37. IX
  38. X
  39. XI
  40. XII
  41. XIII
  42. XIV
  43. Between the Scenes
  44. The Fifth Scene
  45. II
  46. III
  47. Between the Scenes
  48. The Sixth Scene
  49. II
  50. Between the Scenes
  51. The Seventh Scene
  52. II
  53. III
  54. IV
  55. Between the Scenes
  56. The Last Scene
  57. II
  58. III
  59. IV
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