The Dark Clue

I thought the book was extremely well written. James Wilson did not made the error to give his people a modern outlook on life and social problems within a Victorian period. But I was disappointed by the ending. Somehow, I got the feeling that in the last 80 pages, Turner disappeared, no real ending displayed, the scene between Marianne and James (basically a rape) sounded contrite. It is a shame really but compared to most of the same fiction, this is outstanding achievement from a literay perspective. The man can write.

This is a good book. You need to know that. Otherwise the relatively slow pace will deeply frustrate you and may cause you to quit reading. Don't quit. The payoff is rewarding. The answers and new questions that slowly surface are intriguing...the inner character struggles are haunting. Thank you Mr. Wilson for allowing loose ends...it's so much more enjoyable to be left with more questions than neatly wrapped overly predictable endings.

When I purchased The Dark Clue I had no idea that I had picked up a book that would entertain, intrigue, and educate me. Through letters and diary entries I was taken back to Victorian England and introduced to Walter Hartwright and Marian Halcombe, a brother and sister-in-law team searching for the "real" story of the renowned, reclusive landscape artist J.M.W. Turner. Through their research in writing Turner's biography I met wonderful characters that took me punting on the Thames, hiding around the corners in the backstreets of London's slums, and visiting the finest homes of the elite all the while feeling that the "truth" of Turner's life was just at hand. As the character's obsessions grew to find the truth, so did mine with an ending so surprising but so fitting of the bizzare life of Turner. I say this is the best reading we can hope for... fiction combined with real historical characters and education combined with great entertainment.

Reviewers and readers have done a great job in summarizing the contents of the novel but, I think, have missed the author's deft handling of his influences. Certainly, Collins' Woman in White provides the cast of characters and the temporal framework of the novel, but Sophocles' Oedipus the King provides the thematic framework. Walter Hartright re-enacts the tragedy of Oedipus as his quest for the "monstrous" landscape artist J.M.W. Turner turns into a quest of self-discovery. In the end he must confront "the monster in the mirror."

Note: "The Dark Clue" by James Wilson has absolutely nothing to do with Wilkie Collins's "The Woman in White," eventhough Wilson has made Marian Halcombe and Walter Hartright, the two avenging righters of all wrongs, from Collins's novel, the chief protagonists in "The Dark Clue." Having said that, if you enjoyed Collins's novel for its gothicky atmosphere, the absolutely brilliant manner in which both the plot unfolded and the novel was executed, and for the investigative zeal with which both Marian and Walter carried out their quest, then "The Dark Clue" cannot fail to satisfy. For James Wilson has written a truly enthralling novel, that successfully evokes the feel of the rather prissy yet dark passions of the Victorian period.Marian Halcombe has recognised a kind of malaise in her dear brother-in-law, Walter Hartright, for some time now. Realising that part of the problem is boredom, coupled with a sense of uselessness, Marian is at a loss as to how to help him, when fate puts the solution in her hands. Lady Eastlake, a friend of Marian's, is looking for someone credible and competent to write a biography of one of England's most talented of artists, J. M. W. Turner. Apparently, a gossiping hack journalist has decide to embark on exactly such a task, and Lady Eastlake fears that his take on Turner will be a tittle-tattle backbiting biography, that will tarnish Turner's good name. Lady Eastlake wants to commission a biography that will counter this hack's book. Walter is eager to embark on the project, however, he does make it clear to Lady Eastlake that he intends to tell the 'truth' about Turner, warts and all -- this will be no sugar coated biography! And so armed with the names of Turners remaining friends, and colleagues, Walter and Marian set out to do a little investigative foraying into Turner's life.What they find perplexes them. There seems to be two views of Turner: some see Turner as a generous but deeply misunderstood genius, much abused, sensitive, and secretive; while others view him as stingy, cruel and proud. And then there are the hints that Turner led a darker and very secret second life, with suggestions of depraved behavior involving prostitutes. Can there be any truth to such rumours? While Marian uses the information that they have gleaned from the interviews and the insights that they have gained from viewing Turner's art to arrive at some kind of profile of the artist, Walter gets sucked into speculating about Turner's supposed depravities. Utterly obsessed, Walter takes to haunting the slums of London that Turner rose from, looking for clues as to whether or not the Great Man had a darker side. It isn't too long before this preoccupation consumes him and makes him utterly oblivious to everything and everyone, and leaves Marian wondering if the cure for Walter's malaise may prove to be far worse than the disease."The Dark Clue" is a truly engrossing read. James Wilson does a wonderful job of depicting the sentimental