Full review at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books 
 Do not under any circumstances start reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins unless you have nothing else to do, because once you pick it up your week will be shot. This book was originally released in serial format and was a huge sensation and by golly it's still pretty hair-raising now. 
 The Woman in White has been called one of the first mystery novels as well as one of the first Victorian sensation novels. It also works nicely as a Gothic novel, given the recurring appearance of the mysterious woman in white, the shambles of the aptly named Blackwater Park, and the sheer number of over-the-top plot devices, each one of which I shamelessly adored. It also has pastoral moments as well as reliance on logic, deduction, and evidence. 
 The book is also packed with social commentary, most of it quite progressive for its time. The book addresses, in different ways and in harrowing detail, how women are at the mercy of their guardians and their husbands. There's a lot of discussion about "foreigners" but at least one of the foreigners in question is great (another...not so much). The book features a heroine, Marian, who is absolutely wonderful. Even the villain gets a crush on her. 
 - Carrie S.