Hide and Seek

Collins, Wilkie, 1824-1889Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 892K words
Chapters: 90

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Hide and Seek by Wilkie CollinsAuthor: Collins, Wilkie, 1824-1889,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Apr 1, 2005

Editor's review

Hide and Seek is one of Collins's early novels, and its title itself reads like a narrative game: the characters drive the plot through hiding and seeking, as secrets, identities, and misunderstandings unfold layer by layer. Collins later became known for suspense and the sensation novel, and this book offers a glimpse of his early handling of secrets and character relationships, making it useful for understanding his creative development. As a public-domain ebook, it is easy to obtain and suitable as English extensive reading material or supplementary reading within Collins's body of work. One caveat: the pacing and structure of this early work are less tight than those of his masterpieces, and some subplots are laid out at length; readers are advised to approach it in the spirit of "seeing how the author honed his craft" rather than expecting the intensity of The Woman in White. If you are willing to read slowly through the character interactions and period atmosphere, the book has its own rewards.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to understand Collins's early style in the order he wrote
Readers of English fiction who enjoy narrative elements such as secrets and mistaken identity
English learners who need public-domain texts for extensive reading or excerpt-based teaching
Readers who can accept slower setup and enjoy character relationships developing

Not a good fit for

Readers who only want high-density suspense and tightly paced plots
Beginners with limited experience in long English fiction who need detailed annotations
Readers who lack patience for the longer setup and subplots of early novels

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters first to clarify the character relationships, then proceed chapter by chapter to avoid confusion from the large cast.
While reading, note "who is hiding what and who is seeking what" to help track the narrative threads.
Compare with reviews of Collins's representative works to observe the early form of his suspense techniques.
In English reading, mark unfamiliar words first and review them later, prioritizing continuity in understanding the plot.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can I read this directly if I haven't read other works by Collins?

Yes. This book is a standalone story and does not depend on prior events from other works. However, it is an early Collins novel, and its style is not yet fully mature; if you want to experience the appeal of his representative works first, you could start with The Woman in White or The Moonstone and then return to this early work.

Is this book strongly suspenseful?

It includes elements such as secrets and mistaken identity, but its overall pacing and density of suspense are less than those of Collins's later masterpieces. More accurately, it is closer to a character novel with a sense of narrative game. If you expect strong suspense with layer upon layer of reversals, you may find it mild; if you enjoy slowly uncovering character relationships, it still has appeal.

What should I pay attention to when reading it as a public-domain ebook?

Public-domain ebooks are easy to obtain for free, but typesetting and proofreading quality may vary between editions. It is advisable to choose a text from a reliable source and pay attention to chapter divisions and annotations while reading; if you use it for study or citation, it is best to check key passages against other editions to avoid comprehension problems caused by typesetting issues.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Collins, Wilkie, 1824-1889 Author

Wilkie Collins (1824–1889) was a British novelist best known for his detective and suspense fiction. The library holds 44 of his works, including The Woman in White, The Moonstone, No Name, Armadale, The Law and the Lady and The Dead Secret. He was skilled at multiple-perspective narration and building suspense, and he addressed social issues such as identity, marriage and the law, with intricate plots and vivid characters. The Moonstone is often regarded as one of the pioneering works of modern detective fiction and has had a lasting influence on later mystery writing. It should be noted that the library's information on his nationality and life dates is limited, so this introduction relies mainly on his works and general public knowledge.