No Name

De: Wilkie Collins

Narrado por: Nicholas Boulton, Rachel Atkins, Russell Bentley, John Foley, David Rintoul, Lucy Scott

Magdalen and Norah Vanstone have known only comfort and affluence for their entire lives. Orphaned suddenly following the unexpected deaths of their parents, the illegitimate sisters find themselves flung into the other extreme of living: their father had neglected to amend his will following their parents' recent marriage, leaving them with nothing, and their bitter, estranged uncle, the legal inheritor of the family fortune, mercilessly refuses them support.

They have no money, no rights and no name. Norah, the elder of the two, looks for work as a governess and accepts her fate. Fiery and headstrong Magdalen, however, does not. She vows revenge and schemes a series of traps to recover the fortune, no matter the cost....

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2020 Naxos Audiobooks

Even at 20+ hours it’s still not enough! ❤️

I was so enthralled that I listened to this at every opportunity, needing to know how it turned out. Now that it’s done I almost want to start over! You can feel the desperation, the greed, and the love. The narrators are exceptionally good. Absolutely wonderful escape. Clever twists and turns that never feel forced, just exciting and rewarding. I’m making my way through all of Wilkie Collins’ works and I’m glad he was such a prolific writer!!

Character descriptions

Thé hours go by quickly! An interesting story with remarkable characters. Would love to meet these people again.

Fabulous

This book is seemingly endless, intricate and well read. Some amusing characters and all characters well drawn. A delight!

Great tale if revenge and redemption

One of the best Wilkie Collins novels finally gets a recording and it is everything you could wish for. Beautifully narrated by a brilliant cast, this novel shines.

A delicious tale of the value of loyalty and dedicated love is unsurpassed.

Author is a master of suspense, woven together by fantastically complex characters who speak in the most eloquent, intricate and engaging language/s.

Magnificently captivating!

I rarely take the time to write a review, but this book is more than worth the time! The characters were realistically flawed and compelling, even those with more minor roles in the twisting plot. The narration was perfection to the point I felt I was actually watching a beautifully staged play or movie! cannot wait to listen to another Wilkie Collins masterpiece.

Fascinating! Captivating!… too much suspense…

In this story we delve into the heroic attempt of a talented beautiful young woman to save her family. The tale begins with uproarious fun, the scene of family idyll, And this beginning falls apart with exquisitely written storytelling. Our heroine Magdalen Makes choices that bring her face to face with one of the most fascinating villains in literature, Madame Lecount, who fights toe to toe with one of the most endearing scoundrels in literature and his hilariously endearing and helpless wife. Throughout the story, one terrifying situation leads to another and after a while, the reader may wonder if they have strength to continue. The very satisfying and lovely ending comes up too short when weighed against all of the suspense; but W Collins’ mastery And his clear connection with Dickens shine through. The performances in this piece are stunning. There will be laughter, there will be tears, and there will be trembling…

Phenomenal!!! Magdalin was amazing.

Great love story loved all the characters in it, especially Magdalin. The story was captivating, mysterious and interesting. I could not stop listening every chance I got.

Good and Evil and Funny

“Here,” writes Collins in his introduction, “is one more book that depicts the struggle of a human creature, under those opposing influences of Good and Evil.” More particularly, it depicts two different reactions to personal disaster: passive acceptance and active resistance. But don’t let that “one more book” fool you; this is an exceptional work, delving into the big questions while, at the same time, being as downright funny as any book I’ve ever read.

The literary slot it fits most neatly is the Victorian “novel of sensation”, an enticing mélange of mystery and scandal. Dickens-like, it’s also something of a piece of “cause” literature. Without spoiling the primary turning point in the story, I’ll only say that, unlike his mentor Dickens, Collins lets the situation speak for itself. Not until the third of the “Scenes” into which the novel is divided does he indulge in a burst of Dickensian social criticism, and then he takes aim at urban poverty in general, not the specific issue that sets the novel in motion. This merciful avoidance of the soapbox makes one wish Collins had never touched laudanum, the drug that inexorably diminished his talents and left us with but four fine novels to enjoy.

The cast recording concept works less well here, where narratives are far more intertwined than in The Moonstone or The Lady in White. But where Collins gives a single character enough material to support an extended monologue, it works very well—and nowhere better than in the case of Captain Wragge.

This former militia officer and current “moral agriculturist” (i.e.: con man) is a brilliant compound of comic relief and breathtaking audacity, shaky morals and strict bookkeeping. With the exception of Wodehouse’s S. F. Ukridge, I’ve never met a deeper fictional rogue who made me laugh harder, in the process extorting my admiration—if not precisely for him, then certainly for his creator. Again, the comparison between Dickens’ inconceivably good heroes and irretrievably bad villains, and Collins’ more complex characters, is the difference between cardboard and flesh and blood. Take our heroine Magdalen. In truly un-Dickensian fashion, she’s a mixture of the admirable and the shocking: undaunted determination, low cunning, family loyalty and ungovernable emotion.

Another remarkable aspect of the book is how Collins can create engaging secondary characters who pass in and out of his story and, before you have a chance to miss them, they're replaced by others, just as interesting. Like his mentor, his invention seems inexhaustible. And the same holds true of Collins’ plot; the path to the inevitable happy ending is just as inventive—and just as elusive of the listener’s expectations.

Loved this poignant story

Wonderful story from start to finish, I am in mourning having finished the book. Beautifully narrated.