Poor Miss Finch

Poor Miss Finch

Wilkie Collins

4.0
Comment(s)
540
View
53
Chapters

More than one charming blind girl, in fiction and in the drama, has preceded “Poor Miss Finch.” But, so far as I know, blindness in these cases has been always exhibited, more or less exclusively, from the ideal and the sentimental point of view. The attempt here made is to appeal to an interest of another kind, by exhibiting blindness as it really is. I have carefully gathered the information necessary to the execution of this purpose from competent authorities of all sorts.

Poor Miss Finch TO MRS. ELLIOT,

(OF THE DEANERY, BRISTOL).

WILL YOU honor me by accepting the Dedication of this book, in remembrance of an uninterrupted friendship of many years?

More than one charming blind girl, in fiction and in the drama, has preceded "Poor Miss Finch." But, so far as I know, blindness in these cases has been always exhibited, more or less exclusively, from the ideal and the sentimental point of view. The attempt here made is to appeal to an interest of another kind, by exhibiting blindness as it really is. I have carefully gathered the information necessary to the execution of this purpose from competent authorities of all sorts. Whenever "Lucilla" acts or speaks in these pages, with reference to her blindness, she is doing or saying what persons afflicted as she is have done or said before her. Of the other features which I have added to produce and sustain interest in this central personage of my story, it does not become me to speak. It is for my readers to say if "Lucilla" has found her way to their sympathies. In this character, and more especially again in the characters of "Nugent Dubourg" and "Madame Pratolungo," I have tried to present human nature in its inherent inconsistencies and self-contradictions - in its intricate mixture of good and evil, of great and small - as I see it in the world about me. But the faculty of observing character is so rare, the curiously mistaken tendency to look for logical consistency in human motives and human actions is so general, that I may possibly find the execution of this part of my task misunderstood - sometimes even resented - in certain quarters. However, Time has stood my friend in relation to other characters of mine in other books - and who can say that Time may not help me again here? Perhaps, one of these days, I may be able to make use of some of the many interesting stories of events that have really happened, which have been placed in my hands by persons who could speak as witnesses to the truth of the narrative. Thus far, I have not ventured to disturb the repose of these manuscripts in the locked drawer allotted to them. The true incidents are so "far-fetched"; and the conduct of the real people is so "grossly improbable"!

As for the object which I have had in view in writing this story, it is, I hope, plain enough to speak for itself. I subscribe to the article of belief which declares, that the conditions of human happiness are independent of bodily affliction, and that it is even possible for bodily affliction itself to take its place among the ingredients of happiness. These are the views which "Poor Miss Finch" is intended to advocate - and this is the impression which I hope to leave on the mind of the reader when the book is closed.

W. C.

January 16th, 1872.

Continue Reading

Other books by Wilkie Collins

More

You'll also like

The Mute Heiress's Fake Marriage Pact

The Mute Heiress's Fake Marriage Pact

Alma
5.0

I was finally brought back to the billionaire Vance estate after years in the grimy foster system, but the luxury Lincoln felt more like a funeral procession. My biological family didn't welcome me with open arms; they looked at me like a stain on a silk shirt. They thought I was a "defective" mute with cognitive delays, a spare part to be traded away. Within hours of my arrival, my father decided to sell me to Julian Thorne, a bitter, paralyzed heir, just to secure a corporate merger. My sister Tiffany treated me like trash, whispering for me to "go back to the gutter" before pouring red wine over my dress in front of Manhattan's elite. When a drunk cousin tried to lay hands on me at the engagement gala, my grandmother didn't protect me-she raised her silver-topped cane to strike my face for "embarrassing the family." They called me a sacrificial lamb, laughing as they signed the prenuptial agreement that stripped me of my freedom. They had no idea I was E-11, the underground hacker-artist the world was obsessed with, or that I had already breached their private servers. I found the hidden medical records-blood types A, A, and B-a biological impossibility that proved my "parents" were harboring a scandal that could ruin them. Why bring me back just to discard me again? And why was Julian Thorne, the man supposedly bound to a wheelchair, secretly running miles at dawn on his private estate? Standing in the middle of the ballroom, I didn't plead for mercy. I used a text-to-speech app to broadcast a cold, synthetic threat: "I have the records, Richard. Do you want me to explain genetics to the press, or should we leave quietly?" With the "paralyzed" billionaire as my unexpected accomplice, I walked out of the Vance house and into a much more dangerous game.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book
Poor Miss Finch Poor Miss Finch Wilkie Collins Modern
“More than one charming blind girl, in fiction and in the drama, has preceded “Poor Miss Finch.” But, so far as I know, blindness in these cases has been always exhibited, more or less exclusively, from the ideal and the sentimental point of view. The attempt here made is to appeal to an interest of another kind, by exhibiting blindness as it really is. I have carefully gathered the information necessary to the execution of this purpose from competent authorities of all sorts.”
1

TO MRS. ELLIOT,

19/11/2017

2

Note to the Present Edition

19/11/2017

3

Part the First Chapter the First

19/11/2017

4

Chapter the Second

19/11/2017

5

Chapter the Third

19/11/2017

6

Chapter the Fourth

19/11/2017

7

Chapter the Fifth

19/11/2017

8

Chapter the Sixth

19/11/2017

9

Chapter the Seventh

19/11/2017

10

Chapter the Eighth

19/11/2017

11

Chapter the Ninth

19/11/2017

12

Chapter the Tenth

19/11/2017

13

Chapter the Eleventh

19/11/2017

14

Chapter the Twelfth

19/11/2017

15

Chapter the Thirteenth

19/11/2017

16

Chapter the Fourteenth

19/11/2017

17

Chapter the Fifteenth

19/11/2017

18

Chapter the Sixteenth

19/11/2017

19

Chapter the Seventeenth

19/11/2017

20

Chapter the Eighteenth

19/11/2017

21

Chapter the Nineteenth

19/11/2017

22

Chapter the Twentieth

19/11/2017

23

Chapter the Twenty-First

19/11/2017

24

Chapter the Twenty-Second

19/11/2017

25

Chapter the Twenty-Third

19/11/2017

26

Chapter the Twenty-Fourth

19/11/2017

27

Chapter the Twenty-Fifth

19/11/2017

28

Chapter the Twenty-Sixth

19/11/2017

29

Chapter the Twenty-Seventh

19/11/2017

30

Chapter the Twenty-Eighth

19/11/2017

31

Chapter the Twenty-Ninth

19/11/2017

32

Chapter the Thirtieth

19/11/2017

33

Chapter the Thirty-First

19/11/2017

34

Chapter the Thirty-Second

19/11/2017

35

Chapter the Thirty-Third

19/11/2017

36

Part the Second Chapter the Thirty-Fourth

19/11/2017

37

Chapter the Thirty-Fifth

19/11/2017

38

Chapter the Thirty-Sixth

19/11/2017

39

Chapter the Thirty-Seventh

19/11/2017

40

Chapter the Thirty-Eighth

19/11/2017