This is the text of a play co-written by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins and first performed on Boxing Day 1867, alongside a novel version published in the Christmas edition of Dickens's periodical All The Year Round. Apparently, Collins scripted most of the stage play and indeed the plot feels similar to those in his wonderful sensationalist novels, though the character of Joey Ladle is clearly a Dickensian comic creation. I enjoyed this tale of foundling children, mistaken identities and murder plots. The play has practically never been revived in over a century, but I think its themes are timeless and a performance would go down well today. ( )

Callejon sin salida" es una fascinante novela de intriga, pero, sobre todo, es el fruto mas destacado de la singular amistad y colaboracion literaria de sus autores. Durante el proceso de creacion, Dickens y Collins trabajaron cada capitulo casi de forma artesanal, construyendo un relato de tensa trama en el que se funden el amor, la critica social, el humor, la ironia, la aventura y el drama, hasta culminar en un inesperado desenlace. Una vez leida esta obra admirable, se confirma la impresion de que cada autor ha aportado lo mejor de su oficio. Ahi estan, sin duda, el maestro del suspense Wilkie Collins, y el genial pintor de caracteres que es Charles Dickens. En el Londres de mediados del siglo XIX, la vida cotidiana de un joven hombre de negocios se complica de forma repentina. Una dificil promesa hecha a un amigo, la traicion de alguien en quien confia y el deseo de ser digno de su amada van a dar un giro a su existencia. Excelente novela de intriga, es el fruto mas destacado de la colaboracion de dos grandes novelistas.

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Title: No Thoroughfare
Series: ----------
Author: Charles Dickens & Wilkie Collines
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 256
Format: Digital Edition

The synopsis will have some real spoilers, so if you think you might ever read this book and don't want it spoiled, just read the “My Thoughts” portion.

Synopsis: Spoilers

A baby boy is given to an Foundling and in his teen years is adopted by an older lady. She educates him and reveals that she is his birth mother. She sets him on the path of success in the Wine Business and promptly passes away.

Said young man, Walter Wilding, is in poor health and so takes on a partner to help with the business, one George Vendale. Walter also hires a new housekeeper and in the process it is revealed that she was a former nurse at the Foundling. It is also revealed that there were several “Walter Wilding”s and the lady got the wrong one. This distresses young Wilding to no end and he begins to seek out the rightful heir. It also places an incredible stress upon his already weak constitution and he soon passes away. He leaves it to his partner George to find the heir and if he can't, to take Wilding's share of the company.

At the same time, George is woo'ing Margeurite Obenreizer, a young swiss woman who is under the guardianship of her half-uncle. During this whole thing, it is revealed by an inquiry of George's that someone in a high position of trust, has been stealing money from the company that Obenreizer works for.

George ends up taking a hike over the Alps to give his evidence and of course it is Obenreizer, who goes along to try to either steal the evidence or kill George. Margeurite senses something is wrong, follows with the help of faithful retainer of George's and saves George only to apparently have him die in her arms.

Several months elapse and Obenreizer, now let go from his previous job, is working for a lawyer with the aim of stealing his secrets and using them for personal gain. He learns something about Vendale, who he thinks is dead. Then Margeurite and George spring forth, alive and whole and reveal the treachery of Obenreizer in full. Obenreizer, thinking he is getting revenge, reveals that George Vendale is actually adopted by the Vendales and that he was a foundling. Of course, it turns out that George Vendale was the heir that Walter Wilding was looking for the entire time.

The book ends with Obenreizer dying in an avalanche and George and Margeurite getting married.

My Thoughts:

I remembered a few things from my initial read in '03, but in so many ways it was like reading it for the first time. I enjoyed this a lot.

This was drama of the finest vintage. Orphans and searches for lost heirs and love and evil villains and love triumphant and just desserts. This has it all in spades. And it is short, so anyone who might be intimidated by Dicken's rather lengthy style won't be put off. I don't have anything else to say. I'm tired and worded out.


★★★★☆ ( )

a shorter book about love, murder, orphans, and lost & restored legacies. ( )

No Thoroughfare is far and away the best of Dickens' collaborative works. Co-written with Wilkie Collins, it is a melodrama in "four acts" beginning with a dramatic prologue in a house for foundlings, and culminating in the final act learning the true identity of the foundling--with an epilogue that ties up the last loose end.

It is tightly written from beginning to end, with a well constructed plot--at least allowing for the standard repertoire of coincidence that is allowable in these sorts of a works. It has high drama--including a scene on a snowy mountain pass between Switzerland and Italy. And it has a noble hero, a tragic figure, a plucky heroine, a villain, and a number of effective lawyers to push it all along.

It does not have much humor, it's best character would not stand in the top ten of any of Dickens' novels, but on its own terms it works well. ( )