Summary:

Lucilla Finch, a young middle-class woman who has been blind since early childhood, falls in love with Oscar Dubourg. After a head injury, Oscar develops epilepsy, and then turns blue from the treatment. Lucilla harbors an irrational hatred of dark colors, including dark skin; thus Oscar has a strong desire to hide his blueness from Lucilla until after their marriage. When his twin brother comes to visit, Oscar tells Lucilla that Nugent is the blue man, a deception that backfires when Nugent--who has fallen in love with Lucilla himself--brings in Herr Grosse, an oculist who cures Lucilla's blindness.

Her first vision is of Nugent, who sabotages Oscar by assuming his identity and making it impossible for Oscar to reveal the truth. Oscar goes abroad, becoming a nurse, but returns in time to rescue Lucilla--who is blind again--from marrying Nugent. After the brothers reconcile, Lucilla and Oscar marry and have two children; Nugent freezes to death during an Arctic expedition.

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This mystery novel interweaves the stories of two Victorian households: the cheerless Sabbatarian residence of Zachary Thorpe and the lively, off-beat home of artist Valentine Blyth. Thorpe’s rebellious son Zack’s friendship with Blyth begins an interfamilial connection that Blyth unknowingly deepens when he adopts a deaf girl he finds in a country circus.

Blyth and his disabled wife Lavinia fear the living birth father of the girl they name Madonna will discover her existence and take her away. Their desire to hide Madonna is thwarted by a rough stranger, Mat Marksman, who seeks the man who impregnated and abandoned his sister--Madonna’s mother, who died soon after giving birth. Zachary Thorpe, Sr. is revealed as Madonna’s father, just in time to prevent a problematic romance between the half-siblings.

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Warning: this annotation reveals the solution of the novel's mystery. The Moonstone is typically read as one of the first detective novels in British fiction. Published serially in 1868, the novel sets out to identify the thief who steals an expensive gem, the moonstone, from the heroine, Rachel Verinder. Franklin Blake, Rachel's love interest, turns out to be the thief. He stole the gem while under the influence of a dose of opium slipped to him by the local doctor. He has no memory of the deed.

Blake is able to solve the mystery--and win Rachel--with the help of Ezra Jennings. Jennings is also a doctor, but his unorthodox appearance and methods make him a pariah. Jennings is addicted to opium, which he began prescribing for himself to reduce the pain of a chronic illness. He uses his knowledge of the drug to re-create Blake's state on the night the jewel disappeared. Blake again tries to take the jewel and the mystery is unraveled.

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Summary:

The opening chapters of this sensational novel focus on "Mercy Merrick," a nurse in the Franco-Prussian War. Mercy's post is taken over by the Germans. Mercy meets the emergency with great skill and aplomb, comforting the wounded soldiers and ensuring their safe passage. Her bravery is set in opposition to the cowardly surgeon and a timid English gentlewoman on her way to England to claim an inheritance from relatives who have never before met her.

In the midst of the battle, the English woman is killed. Mercy determines to take over the dead woman's identity and claim her inheritance. She successfully does so. However, it miraculously turns out that the Englishwoman was not dead at all, merely stunned, and she arrives in England looking for revenge. It is impossible for her to prove her identity until Mercy confesses. Even then, the reader has sympathy for the desperation that caused her to take on the impersonation and her story ends happily as she goes off to a happy marriage and to nurse orphans.

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Summary:

Armadale is of interest for several reasons. First, the novel centers on issues of fate. Are our destinies determined, or can they be altered? The two heroes of the novel, Ozias Midwinter and Allan Armadale, are born under a curse. Midwinter's father murdered Allan Armadale's father. On his death bed, Midwinter's father warns that if these two sons ever meet, tragedy will occur. Midwinter learns the story and is uncertain whether to leave Allan or to work at changing their fate. Collins does not offer a solution, but provides plenty of opportunity for discussion.

Second, there is a doctor in the novel whose behavior is unethical to say the least. When the reader is first introduced to him, he is running a clandestine abortion clinic. When that operation is shut down by the police, he opens a private sanitarium. He privately confesses to being utterly uninterested in his patients' health. He only wants their money.

When the local ladies come to tour the facilities he espouses a system of liberal care, including dances, fine meals, and edifying concerts on Sunday evenings. However, the building is laid out with an intricate system of pipes that allow the doctor to keep his patients continually sedated. At the novel's end, the doctor helps plan a murder using those pipes.

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