My Lady's Money

"My Lady's Money" by Wilkie Collins is a novel written during the late 19th century, reflective of the Victorian era. The story revolves around Lady Lydiard, a well-meaning but impulsive widow, and her adopted daughter, Isabel Miller, as they navigate the complexities of relationships, social status, and a mysterious theft that brings about suspicion and turmoil. At the start of the novel, Lady Lydiard is depicted deep in thought, weighing the implications of a series of letters from a struggling artist, Mr. Tollmidge, who claims a familial connection to her late husband. The narrative shifts focus to the sudden illness of her beloved dog, Tommie, which sparks her generosity toward Mrs. Tollmidge and her children. However, this good deed is hindered when a bank-note disappears from a letter intended for the clergyman, leading to a growing suspicion that Isabel may be implicated in the theft. As the tension escalates, characters like the enigmatic Robert Moody and the charming Felix Sweetsir are introduced, each adding layers to the unfolding drama and its impending moral dilemmas. The opening portion effectively sets the stage for a story filled with intrigue, social commentary, and interpersonal conflict. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

William Wilkie Collins was an English novelist and playwright known especially for The Woman in White (1859), a mystery novel and early sensation novel, and for The Moonstone (1868), which established many of the ground rules of the modern detective novel and is also perhaps the earliest clear example of the police procedural genre.