{"product_id":"9789389394610","title":"Hide and Seek","description":"\u003cp\u003eDickens, Swinburne, and Macaulay all lavished praise on \u003ci\u003eHide and Seek,\u003c\/i\u003e the third of Wilkie Collins’ novels (1854) and his first attempt at a mystery. In a letter to his sister-in-law, Dickens remarked: “I think it far and away the cleverest novel I have ever seen written by a new hand …. In short, I call it a very remarkable book.” In this early effort, we find Collins — considered English fiction’s first detective novelist — experimenting with the detective story and honing the skills of narrative and plot construction brought to such a high level in his later masterpieces, \u003ci\u003eThe Woman in White \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e The Moonstone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eBesides its mystery-story elements, \u003ci\u003eHide and Seek\u003c\/i\u003e succeeds as a warm, entertaining tale that blends domestic comedy, pathos, humor, and a smattering of social protest. It also enabled Collins to introduce a gallery of memorable characters: Mary Grice (nicknamed Madonna), the gentle deaf-mute whose mysterious origins and tragic early life form the basis of the novel; the engaging and voluble Zach Thorpe, of whom Mary is enamored; her guardian Valentine Blyth — a failure as an artist but a success as a human being — and Matthew Marksman, the strange and wild woodsman who finally unravels the shocking story of Mary’s true origins.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHide and Seek\u003c\/i\u003e is a distinct departure from the lurid melodrama of Collins’ second novel, \u003ci\u003eBasil,\u003c\/i\u003e and a milestone in the author’s progress toward maturity as a novelist. In its pages readers will find the ingenious plot construction and storytelling skill that Collins felt to be the true calling of the novelist.\u003cbr\u003eAdmirers of Wilkie Collins — and Victorian fiction in general — will savor the novel’s vivid descriptions of exciting events, its sustained power of imaginative suggestion, and the author’s shrewd and compassionate depiction of Victorian manners and morals.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lost Truth Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47043734077680,"sku":"9789389394610","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9789389394610_p0.jpg?v=1763676254","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9789389394610","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}