"Armadale" - Not the best of Wilkie Collins

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed "The Woman in White" and "The Moonstone" by Collins, I was prepared to like this book even though I knew it was not as popular as the other two books. Wilkie Collins lived in England (1824-1889)and wrote "Armadale" in 1865 which was the third book in the four novels for which he is best remembered.

Like the previous two Collins' novels I had read, there is a focus on Victorian morals and characters drawn from that day's most infamous offenders of those morals.

The novel tells the story of two young men whose fathers' lives were tragically intertwined. The late father of Ozias Midwinter admitted in a letter to his son of murdering the father of Allan Armadale after Armadale lost his own inheiritance then stole Midwinter's identity and married the rich and beautiful Miss Blanchard. Tormented through the years by having committed murder, Midwinter's father begs his son to never trust The Hand of Fate and to avoid at all costs any contact with Mr. Armadale's son, his widow, and the widow's young maid who was an accomplice to the deceptions.

The two young men accidentally meet with only Ozias Midwinter knowing the truth about their personal connection. They become fast friends. Young Armadale has a disturbing dream which he shares with young Midwinter who is convinced the dream is a foretelling of Armadale's death.

Meanwhile, the only survivor of the father Armadale's deception of identity, his widow's young maid, Lydia Gwilt, has lived a life of crime but now decides to pursue and marry young Armadale for his fortune. Neither Armadale nor Midwinter are aware of her identity or past connection to their lives.

The plot then proceeds with Lydia Gwilt's pursuit of young Armadale and Ozias Midwinter's resolution to protect his friend from death. Both Midwinter and Gwilt are the dark forces in this narrative; he from his unhappy young life, and she from her life of crime.

In the end, Gwilt dies when her attempt to point Armadale backfires and Midwinter saves Armadale's life to put the bad dream to rest.