Wilkie Collins, wondering whether he left the iron on
After a life on the streets, Mercy Merrick successfully rehabilitates herself with the help of an inspirational sermon from a young clergyman, Julian Gray. Working as a volunteer nurse in the Franco-Prussian War, she meets Grace Roseberry, a genteel woman with an unappealing, but spotless, character. When Grace is apparently killed by a German shell, Mercy assumes her identity and returns to England.
Using a letter of introduction meant for Grace, she is welcomed into the home of the wealthy Lady Janet Roy, becoming her companion and adopted daughter. Meanwhile, Grace has made an unexpected recovery, following some inspired brain surgery by a maverick German doctor. Grace finds her way home, only to discover that her place has been taken by an ex-prostitute.
That is just the beginning of a fairly labyrinthine plot, and I shan’t spoil it for anyone new to the novel. The New Magdalen is one of Collins’ novels with a purpose, and sometimes his moral intent is rather overwhelming. He attacks those who don’t believe in the possibility of redemption and exposes them as hypocrites. The miseries of the Fallen Woman are laid on with a trowel, and the melodrama tends to undermine any serious intent to challenge prevailing prejudices. The real strength lies in Collins’ consideration of identity and the potentially slippery notion of selfhood. Grace Roseberry is forced to repeatedly assert a claim to her own person, in opposition to those in whose interests it is to disbelieve her.
The New Magdalen certainly isn’t in the same league as The Woman in White or Armadale, but the striking vignettes of war in the opening chapters, and Collins’ exploration of identity make it well worth a read.
The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins