From Publishers Weekly
This debut novel by Wilson, acclaimed nonfiction author of The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America, is an evocative and sophisticated literary thriller set in 1850s Victorian England. Taking his cue from an archetypal Victorian suspense novel, Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, Wilson composes an epistolary fiction in letters and diary entries, reviving Collins's classic characters Walter Hartright and his sister-in-law Marion Halcombe. Here, Hartwright and Halcombe are partners in a search to uncover the truth about elusive Romantic landscape artist J.M.W. Turner. Commissioned by the royal Lady Eastlake to write a definitive biography of the misunderstood artist, the duo meet members of the British elite, eccentric and reserved, all of whom have conflicting memories of the reclusive Turner. The upright Hartright discovers a "dark clue" in Turner's paintings, and he becomes obsessed with unraveling the myth and mystery of a man so many people have misunderstood. Art history lovers will take pleasure in the fascinating details of Turner's squalid upbringing and his early years at the Royal Academy. Wilson's exacting, detailed descriptions of Victorian England from Dickensian slums to the gilded drawing rooms of royalty make for vivid storytelling. The tale's pace is stately, but readers tuned to the frequency of 19th-century novels will appreciate Wilson's measured tone and deft treatment of Turner's murky history and Collins's exquisite legacy. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This new novel from British author Wilson (The Earth Shall Weep) consists of a series of letters and journal entries purportedly written by Walter Hartright and Marian Halcombe, characters from Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White. At the request of Lady Eastlake, Walter begins researching a biography of J.M.W. Turner to counteract the work of a journalist trying to produce an unflattering portrayal of the artist. At first reluctant, Walter soon becomes obsessed with uncovering the secret of Turner's genius, in part to improve his own artistic work. The more he delves into Turner's life in the mansions of the wealthy and the slums of London, the more Walter loses touch with his own respectable life and engages in actions he deplores. Only Marian's investigations and interventions save him from self-destruction, though they come at considerable risk to herself. But what if both are mere pawns in a plot to discredit Turner? Wilson's extensive research about Collins and Turner may be lost on many U.S. readers, but avid fans of historic suspense will appreciate the political and artistic intrigue. Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Wilson's first novel borrows heavily from both the fiction and the history of the Victorian era. The heroes are none other than Walter Hartright and his sister-in-law, Marian Halcombe, both central characters in Wilkie Collins' Victorian sensation novel, The Woman in White. Married to his love, Laura, and the father of two, Walter is growing uneasy in his life of leisure. Marian summons him to the house of Lady Eastlake, hoping to give him a renewed sense of purpose. Lady Eastlake wants to commission Walter to write a biography of the Romantic painter J. M. W. Turner, and though he is reluctant at first, he is soon drawn into the project. As he talks to those who knew Turner, Walter is presented with many different portraits. Was the painter a bumbling fool, a sensitive and generous man, or a misunderstood figure? As Walter becomes more embroiled in the quest, Marian fears for his sanity. Despite the slow start, this novel will appear to fans of Collins and the Victorian sensation genre. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
?Here is an elaborate but very accessible tale of morality, depravity and artistic passion that both blurs and illuminates the fine line between good and evil. . . . This is a descent into hell that unfurls slowly . . . with exquisite detail.? -- The Globe and Mail
"His great achievement is that, as the story progresses, its texture increasingly resembles that of Turner?s paintings: seemingly effortless yet immaculately designed and executed." ? Literary Review
"It is a devilishly clever book." ? Matthew Sweet, The Independent
"James Wilson?s ambitious, intelligent and gripping first novel is about how we can ever know the whole truth about a life?The Dark Clue is rich with atmosphere and suspense." ? Amanda Craig, Sunday Express
"The Dark Clue is James Wilson?s first novel, and a remarkable one?he has brought off something which is really difficult: to write a novel in the period when the greatest English novels were written, and to come up with something which is not an imitation but never rings false?Wilson has a rare story to tell and draw it out enticingly, teasingly, compellingly?Wilson has written a wonderfully entertaining novel?Read 50 pages and you will be gripped." ? Allan Massie, The Scotsman
"The Dark Clue is beautifully written?an intriguing read." ? Observer
"It?s a real thriller, I enjoyed it greatly?It was beautifully structured?I love London even more after reading this book." ? Brenda Maddox
"The Dark Clue explores the way in which we cling to formal structures and its beauty lies in how it undermines its own formal devices. Neither parody nor pastiche?The fine writing, cameo appearances from a very floppy John Ruskin and romps round London make it enjoyable to read. The sense for Turner?s chiaroscuro, and for the formless darkness of the soul, make it shine." ? Sophie Ratcliffe The Times
Book Description
Inspired by the Victorian sensation novel, James Wilson's first novel, The Dark Clue, is a portrait of the age in all of its staggering extremes, as inventive and multifaceted as the oil paintings of J. M. W. Turner, the elusive genius who lies at the thriller's heart. When Walter Hartright -- the sheltered, upright character from Wilkie Collins's classic mystery novel The Woman in White -- is hired to write a biography of England's great Romantic landscape artist, he discovers the "dark clue" hidden deep within Turner's brilliant paintings. Obsessed with reconstructing a life that is shrouded in mystery, Walter seeks help from a Dickensian assemblage including the visionary John Ruskin, the haughty aristocrats, the desperate, and the criminal. Soon enough, Walter uncovers evidence of unspeakable depravity, but can the truth behind Turner's myth be freed from a rapidly expanding web of conspiracy? Only Walter's capable and loving Halcombe can hope to rescue him from the harrowing downward spiral that follows. James Wilson's first book, The Earth Shall Weep, established him as a groundbreaking historian and evocative storyteller. His debut novel plumbs the myth of creative genius, offering a startling commentary on truth seeking and recording history. In the tradition of John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman and Charles Palliser's The Quincunx, The Dark Clue is a masterful fiction debut from one of the original voices of our time.
The Dark Clue: A Novel of Suspense FROM THE PUBLISHER
"This is a book begun, but not finished. I could not finish it. Many times, I have come close to destroying it, thinking I should have no rest while it remained to reproach me. I could not bring myself to do it. I have therefore given instructions that it should be sealed in a box, which is to remain unopened until I, my wife Laura, our sister Marian Halcombe and all our children are dead." "So begins James Wilson's brilliant recreation of the Victorian suspense novel, as the characters from Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White - Walter Hartright and Marian Halcombe - are involved in another dramatic and dangerous investigation, this time emanating from the heart of respectable London society." "Walter is commissioned to write a biography of the greatest of English painters, JMW Turner, but soon finds Turner is a disturbingly elusive figure - shy, secretive, and the subject of startling rumours and counter-rumours. Who is telling lies about him - his fellow artists, his patrons, the women in the bawdy houses and inns he frequented, the engravers and critics who knew him and his work? Whose interests are served by vilifying a dead genius? How can we know the whole truth about a life?" Walter and Marian's detective work leads them into the darkness at the heart of Turner's world, forcing them to confront a mystery which threatens their sanity, their trust in each other, and their lives.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
This debut novel by Wilson, acclaimed nonfiction author of The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America, is an evocative and sophisticated literary thriller set in 1850s Victorian England. Taking his cue from an archetypal Victorian suspense novel, Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, Wilson composes an epistolary fiction in letters and diary entries, reviving Collins's classic characters Walter Hartright and his sister-in-law Marion Halcombe. Here, Hartwright and Halcombe are partners in a search to uncover the truth about elusive Romantic landscape artist J.M.W. Turner. Commissioned by the royal Lady Eastlake to write a definitive biography of the misunderstood artist, the duo meet members of the British elite, eccentric and reserved, all of whom have conflicting memories of the reclusive Turner. The upright Hartright discovers a "dark clue" in Turner's paintings, and he becomes obsessed with unraveling the myth and mystery of a man so many people have misunderstood. Art history lovers will take pleasure in the fascinating details of Turner's squalid upbringing and his early years at the Royal Academy. Wilson's exacting, detailed descriptions of Victorian England from Dickensian slums to the gilded drawing rooms of royalty make for vivid storytelling. The tale's pace is stately, but readers tuned to the frequency of 19th-century novels will appreciate Wilson's measured tone and deft treatment of Turner's murky history and Collins's exquisite legacy. (Nov.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
This new novel from British author Wilson (The Earth Shall Weep) consists of a series of letters and journal entries purportedly written by Walter Hartright and Marian Halcombe, characters from Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White. At the request of Lady Eastlake, Walter begins researching a biography of J.M.W. Turner to counteract the work of a journalist trying to produce an unflattering portrayal of the artist. At first reluctant, Walter soon becomes obsessed with uncovering the secret of Turner's genius, in part to improve his own artistic work. The more he delves into Turner's life in the mansions of the wealthy and the slums of London, the more Walter loses touch with his own respectable life and engages in actions he deplores. Only Marian's investigations and interventions save him from self-destruction, though they come at considerable risk to herself. But what if both are mere pawns in a plot to discredit Turner? Wilson's extensive research about Collins and Turner may be lost on many U.S. readers, but avid fans of historic suspense will appreciate the political and artistic intrigue. Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
This epistolary sequel to The Woman in White sets Wilkie Collins's hero the herculean task of writing a life of the legendary English painter J.M.W. Turner. In response to the fears of Lady Elizabeth Eastlake, wife of the National Gallery director, that Walter Thornbury's forthcoming biography of Turner will be too vitriolic to take its subject's true measure, Walter Hartright, himself an artist, agrees to undertake a life of his own. The task of reconstructing his subject from the clues he can find in the painter's lodgings and studios and from among his friends and colleagues originally seems daunting enough, since some acquaintances, like the painter George Jones, refuse to talk to Walter; others, like influential critic John Ruskin, speak so oracularly that they are little more helpful; and others still, like the artist's housekeeper Mrs. Booth, will unburden themselves only to Walter's sister-in-law Marian Halcombe. But the real difficulties lie deeper. Turner, who inspired wildly contradictory opinions while he was alive, had a pathological fear of public appearances-he hated being painted, was never photographed under circumstances that would identify him as that Turner, and often conducted his irregular domestic arrangements under an alias-all of which made disagreements about him nearly impossible to resolve. As Walter traces the artist's steps through country villas and London alleys, naively secure in his determination to unearth the truth about this wild genius, he sinks instead more and more deeply into the life he is supposed to be investigating, neglecting his fairy-tale wife Laura and their two children back in Limmeridge. Not even Marian, when she takes over theresearch from Walter, can avoid Turner's infernal pull. Though it brings the horrors of the other Victorians perhaps too literally to life, this first novel from historian Wilson (The Earth Shall Weep, 1999), taking its cue as much from A.S. Byatt as from Collins, is a powerfully somber meditation on the impossibility of writing a life.
Art & Photography
Book Info
