I Say No

by Wilkie Collins

"I Say No" is a mystery and sensation novel exploring themes of identity, deception, and the search for truth, wrapped in a compelling narrative full of suspense and intrigue.

The story begins with the mysterious death of Emily Brown's father, which leaves her an orphan. Emily is sent to a boarding school, where she grows up under the care of Miss Ladd, the headmistress.

Genres: Classics, Mystery, Fiction, Romance, British Literature, Victorian, Historical Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1884

About the author

Wilkie Collins was an English novelist and playwright, best known for The Woman in White (1860), an early sensation novel, and The Moonstone (1868), a pioneering work of detective fiction. Born to landscape painter William Collins and Harriet Geddes, he spent part of his childhood in Italy and France, learning both languages. Initially working as a tea merchant, he later studied law, though he never practiced. His literary career began with Antonina (1850), and a meeting with Charles Dickens in 1851 proved pivotal. The two became close friends and collaborators, with Collins contributing to Dickens' journals and co-writing dramatic works.
Collins' success peaked in the 1860s with novels that combined suspense with social critique, including No Name (1862), Armadale (1864), and The Moonstone, which established key elements of the modern detective story. His personal life was unconventional—he openly opposed marriage and lived with Caroline Graves and her daughter for much of his life, while also maintaining a separate relationship with Martha Rudd, with whom he had three children.
Plagued by gout, Collins became addicted to laudanum, which affected both his health and later works. Despite declining quality in his writing, he remained a respected figure, mentoring younger authors and advocating for writers' rights. He died in 1889 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. His legacy endures through his influential novels, which laid the groundwork for both sensation fiction and detective literature.

Reviews

[Carla Remy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a lot of Wilkie Collins a good decade ago, but haven't in recent years. "I Say No" I'd never read before. I loved it, and it reminded me of everything cool about Collins: his observations that seems so sharp for the 19th century, his fascination with weirdos and the handicapped, his proto-feminism.

[Mela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not sure what a genre it was. There was (at the beginning) an amusing atmosphere of a school for young girls. Then, a mystery appeared. Despite questions without answers, people had to live on, so we were meeting them in their (more or less) normal life (and learnt a bit about those times). Somewhere between we saw love. And in the end, we ask: is it right to say 'no' sometimes?

Most reviewers wrote it is one of the worse novels by Wilkie Collins. Because it was my first, I am thrilled how I will enjoy his other books.

I have been listening to a splendid reading by Sandra G from LibriVox. She made the story more enjoyable.
(3.5 rounding up thanks to Sandra G)

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree with the title. I like Wilkie Collins, he writes well, and the writing was not the problem - it was the thin-as-to-be-transparent plot. As a mystery, it could have been solved in the first chapter. Miss Marple would have taken one good look at Mrs. Rook, cast off a row of knitting, and rolled her eyes. (That wasn't a spoiler.)
However, this is only Wilkie on a bad day. "No Name" was a very good day.

[Yana Petrovska · Rating 2 out of 5]

So many questionable things in this book. The whole story is the saga of men and their worry about women's "delicate sensibilities". How every man who meets a woman can decide if she has the right to know things about herself and her family. Because what if she has nerves? Women are so delicate after all, they must be protected from the truth...
That's a very weak 2 stars

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Free download available at Project Gutenberg

3* The Woman in White
4* The Moonstone
4* Who Killed Zebedee?
4* The Dead Alive
4* Mrs. Zant and the Ghost
3* A Fair Penitent
4* The Frozen Deep
4* The Haunted Hotel
4* The Law and the Lady
4* No Name
3* My Lady's Money
3* Mad Monkton And Other Stories
4* Armadale
3* The Traveller's Story of a Terribly Strange Bed
3* Stories by English Authors; England
3* Mr. Lismore And The Widow
3* The Dead Secret
4* Basil
3* The Two Destinies
4* Blind Love
4* I Say No
TBR Poor Miss Finch
TBR Man and Wife
TBR The Queen of Hearts
TBR Hide and Seek

[CA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tiene partes muy lentas y aburridas, pero como me gustan las historias de esa época, pude disfrutar incluso esas partes.
El misterio...no es lo mejor, sin duda la Dama de blanco sigue siendo su mejor libro para mi,pero si a sido muy interesante en ciertas partes (a pesar de lo predecible).
----------
Ok tengo que ser sincera, este libro es 1 o 2 estrellas como máximo, mi lista de quejas sobre la historia y los personajes es infinita SIN EMBARGO no lo odio,de hecho me gusta y no sé explicar por qué. Bueno, la verdad es que si puedo explicar el por qué, es porque mi gusto en libros es una mierda

Principales quejas:
- Inconsistencias en los personajes: Emily era una chica manipuladora,autoritaria y con el ego más grande que una casa y yo estaba lista para amarla y odiarla al mismo tiempo, así que díganme por qué es que en el segundo en el que se va del internado se vuelve una mujer débil, que se deja pisotear por todos y que no se defiende. Y no, no se trata de ningún desarrollo como personaje en que aprende humildad o cualquier otra tontería, ella cambia de personalidad del día a la noche sin explicación alguna. No solo ella sino Alban? la chica nueva del internado a la que ya olvide el nombre? Todos cambian de personalidad simplemente porque al autor se le dio la gana.Es como si el internado fuera un mundo paralelo y el segundo en el que los personajes salieran de ahí, sus verdaderas personalidades surgieran.

- Alban: Yo odiando al interés amoroso que novedad, pero en este caso siento que estoy justificada porque a pesar de los intentos del libro por hacerlo ver como una persona noble, el tipo es simplemente un acosador.Se metía constantemente en los asuntos de Emily incluso cuando ella le dijo claramente que no lo necesitaba...cuantas veces te tienen que decir que no es tu maldito asunto para que lo entiendas.

-El misterio: O para ser mas precisa la falta de misterio, reto a cualquier persona incluso si es mala adivinando finales a no ver venir este porque es tan obvio, sabes el final desde el principio, lo sigues sabiendo en el desarrollo y solo lo confirmas al final. No hay especulaciones, ni otras alternativas LO SABES. Y si, hay cosas interesantes en la trama, pero en ningún momento te hacen dudar del objetivo final del libro que es saber quien diablos asesinó al padre de Emily.

[Yibbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, by far, my favorite of the Wilkie Collins books I’ve read. The characters were for the most part believable. Their course of action not so much, but without those crazy decisions there wouldn’t really be a story, so in the end, they worked. Oh, it’s a bit melodramatic at points, but not too bad for a romantic mystery.
If you are in the mood for a sweet little story, about three school companions, their suitors, their fortunes, deception, and murder, this book is for you. You will like some of the characters, despise others, mistrust many, and cheer others. It’s just a very enjoyable book.
The plot was completely mystifying. I was sure of the solution, then I changed my mind, then I changed it again, and again; only to be completely surprised and a little displeased at the end. THIS GIVES AWAY THE SOLUTION TO THE MYSTERY Displeased because I so disliked the supposed villain, and was so sure that he was a murder with totally selfish designs that it was almost too jarring when he is revealed only an innocent coward. The false trails were laid down really well. I never suspected what was about to happen.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wilkie keeps up his good form

I am a devoted fan of Wilkie Collins. I've read all his famous books and a few less known. "I Say No" is right up with his other popular works. He does know how to weave a great mystery and leave it to the very end to surprise you with the end.

[Matteo Fulgheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty cheesy, and overly long.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of Wilkie's better novels. The plot is terribly convoluted and not in a satisfying way (like The Moonstone or The Woman in White). The characters are quite underdeveloped and the outcome disappointing.

[Esther Bismarck · Rating 3 out of 5]

De los Collins que he leído este es el más flojo pero aun así sigue siendo entretenidísimo.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun mystery story by Collins. I enjoy being able to settle into the era he writes about. No texting or phone calls allowed, just be sure you have a servant or young lad who can run across town and wait for a reply. It seems every chapter has someone checking the train schedule so they can rush off to talk to another witness. I find it interesting that these people are always able to read their companions' emotions by the flush of color or paleness that passes across their face. Not as many damsels fainting when they are startled by bad news, but this story has an eloquent young man, a popular preacher, fascinating to women, with a head of thick, wavy hair down to his waist who manages to faint at one point. Romance. Plot twists. Villains. Murder. Family secrets. Sweet young things. Honor.

I listened to this as a free audiobook from Librivox.org.

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is probably his least good book. Plot seems to shift from a semi-supernatural one to a rather dull conventional one. No suspsense, really. Characters are not up to his usual standard.

[Mbuye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is recognised as perhaps the most problematic and frustrating of Wilkie Collins’s detective works. The story itself is vague: the inquest held at the time of a gruesome murder rules out suicide on the basis of the medical evidence and brings in a verdict of wilful murder against persons unknown, but the identity of the murderer remains unknown after four years. “I Say No” focuses on the search for the killer. At the end, the reader is left in doubt as to whether Collins was serious, or whether he had not intended an obstruction, if not an actual perversion, of justice.

Although a token male is the hero, the bulk of the cast is female, and the novel has the ring of a 1950’s schoolgirl adventure story. In fact, Wilkie Collins is almost always more comfortable in the depiction of his great women characters, such as Miss Clack, Rosanna Spearman, the Countess Narona or Miss Gwilt, while his men are wooden and unimpressive.

Having said that, I must add that this is a book with some of Collins's most memorable persons, drawn with a sure hand (like that of his drawing master), and peopled also by powerful individuals with strangely likeable flaws to their personality. The hero, for instance, is in love with a girl much younger than himself. Not to put too fine a point on it, he has been one of her teachers at school. With other people, he acts normally, but in the girl's presence, he seems to be reduced to a quavering jelly, weeping with delight at her smile, and trembling with fear at her frown. Or there is Cecilia, the Friend, whose delight in pastries is only equalled by her enthusiasm for pastors. Of the West Indian heiress, there is almost nothing good to be said, but – and herein lies Collins's genius – even for this appalling girl, we feel a pang of sympathy for a lonely, unloved rich child whose only friend in life had been a mulatto slave girl, ‘my father's property, not mine,’ as she observes. The mysterious Miss Sara Jethro remains an enigma to the end. Mrs Rook, present in only a few chapters, leaves behind an indelible impression.The only person whom Collins dismisses as though with a shrug, is Cecilia's sister: “Constitutional laziness, in some young ladies, assumes an invalid character, and presents the interesting spectacle of perpetual convalescence. The doctor declared that the baths at St. Moritz had cured Miss Julia. Miss Julia declined to agree with the doctor.”

Finally, the principal character herself, Emily, beloved by all, who after school is required to earn her own living, while her besties at school have wealthy (and some, extremely wealthy) parents.She is twice interrupted in her first and only job: first by the death of her only relative, and later by the serious illness of her employer. After that, she lives as a guest in the opulent country home of her Friend, Cecilia and the fig leaf of a job is cast aside. Her uncontrolled tenderheartedness is offset by an impetuosity coupled with hot-headed stubbornness. Though she has kind, trustworthy and experienced friends to advise her – her schoolmistress, Cecilia’s father, her aunt’s trusted servant who has been with the old lady for over twenty years, she ignores them all or repudiates their advice, but the price she pays is a heavy one. Emily Brown is remarkable for being the first woman detective in literature, an innovation exploited only in the twentieth century by writers who saw the opportunities offered by a female sleuth, and turned them to advantage. If she failed due to circumstances beyond her control, she is not alone: the local constabulary and the London police detectives with institutional support and financial inducements at their command, have also failed.

There is the usual rogues’ gallery of villains, some with a label saying ‘Villain’ and others less conspicuous, but of whose rôle we are left in no doubt. Oh no. And vice versa. When Wilkie wants us to like a person, he hangs another label from their collars saying ‘Friend.’ The problem occurs when Wilkie becomes too fond of his creations to let them keep to their assigned parts.

Collins is more intrusive an author here than he is in most of his other great works. Thus, the style at times describes and interprets for the reader the subject’s moods, feelings, and thoughts, which the subject himself might not be aware are passing through his mind. Collins might tell us, for example, that a girl’s face expressed displeasure, but to inform us that it was due to spite caused by jealousy of another girl because a handsome young man preferred that girl’s company, is going too far, and insults the reader as well as his own characters.

As for mystery and atmosphere, Collins’s love of the theatre is given full play. What is perfectly clear to the reader from the first chapter is shrouded in mystery and suspense, each person drawing back in horror if anybody came close to guessing the truth. Add a spice of West Indian voodoo, a touch of local healthy English superstition, attempted murder, suppression of evidence, distortion of fact, and a big dollop of Wilkie humour, and there is some unforgettable reading for you.

[James Uscroft · Rating 1 out of 5]

Other *Novels by this author have tested my patience, but this one has insulted my intelligence!

To specifically state that it's medically impossible for the solution to be 'X' and then reveal at the end that "Well actually, 'X' was the solution after all and the Doctor was simply wrong" is writing of the worst and lowest kind. And indeed, looking back upon two of his other 'Mystery' novels that frustrated and annoyed me, specifically "The Dead Secret" and "The Law & The Lady," I now realise just how much of a hack Wilkie Collins actually was! Because I now realise that the 'Mystery' in all three stories is utterly dependent on people being too afraid or ashamed to reveal the truth. And that therefore, there is literally no reason for the story to exist and the chain of events is nothing but a meaningless waste of time!

In fact, I actually rolled my eyes at one point when, towards the end, one character lamented how utterly unnecessary all of the pointless suffering caused by investigating the mystery had been. And to add insult to injury, yet again, this entire God Forsaken plot boils down to nothing but an excuse for another God Forsaken love triangle and 'Will They, Won't They' romantic drama! Dx

This time of course, the protagonist is a woman, so Stephanie Myers can at least rest assured she isn't solely responsible for the plague of young female characters feeling torn between two men who adore them in modern YA novels. Instead, this trope is apparently more than a century old. But when you've read as many Wilkie Collins novels as I have, it inevitably becomes a game of 'Bingo' as you spot the clichés and formulas that he endlessly recycled and repackaged to churn out a new book to sell. Most commonly, the entire conflict of the book being built upon whether the protagonist will realise that 'A' is the love of their life and will make them happy. With, in this case, the role of 'B' (as best defined in "Armadale" and "The Legacy Of Cain") being split between two characters, just as it was in "The Evil Genius." I, e, with one innocent character just happening to fall in love with someone who is fated by the author to end up with someone else and another person being the evil, heartless manipulator who seeks to keep them apart and/or marry them (either literally or figuratively) for profit, property, revenge or out of spite.

As a matter of fact, having been thoroughly engaged and drawn in by the mystery in the first part of the novel, when I realised the second part was nothing but 'Love Triangle' drama, my estimation of the book plummeted like a lead balloon. And when, as I've already mentioned, the final revelation was a slap in the face, (even though a part of me was expecting it, because as I say, I've read enough Wilkie Collins to know what I was in for,) I was still offended and outraged all the same.

To be honest though, I can't even complain about the padding in this *Novel, because as I've already mentioned, the entire 'STORY' is padding! If that one character had simply spoken out at the very beginning, then there would have been no mystery, no novel and I wouldn't have wasted so many hours of my life that I will never get back. Although the final revelation would have been more palatable in the short story which (like 90% of Collins' work,) this was obviously supposed to be, as always, the mercenary hack had to drag it out into a full novel, building up a mystery that doesn't exist and pulling the rug out from under us because it paid more.

And to top it all off, the decomposing cherry on this increasingly rancid sundae is that in the end, one of the characters joins a convent for no other reason than to prove Collins was only bigoted against Jesuits, not 'ALL' Catholics. And for some bizarre reason that makes no rational sense, that final, trivial point is the final straw. Because the more of his work I read, the more I condemn it as a crime that a man who was able to create such realistic, relatable and 3 dimensional characters squandered almost every one of them in such pathetic, formulaic and insulting literary junk food. -_-

[LW · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zijn latere romans zijn zogezegd niet meer de moeite. Onzin, natuurlijk, Heart and Science en The Law and the Lady zijn heel boeiend en Poor Miss Finch is a minor classic. Maar dit was de eerste keer dat hij me ontgoochelde. Het plot is veel te pover, het is een opgeblazen novelle. De personages leven ook onvoldoende. De dochter van de vermoorde man is blijkbaar zo’n bijzonder iemand dat iedereen voor haar valt, en zich de voeten van onder het lijf loopt, maar deze lezer snapt niet wat de aantrekking is, en dat is Collins’ fout. Als je kijkt hoe ze omgaat met mensen die ze als haar mindere beschouwt, de dienstbode van haar tante en de huishoudster van de professor, dan is ze ronduit onbeschoft. Het is tezelfdertijd enorm ergerlijk dat elke man haar wil beschermen zodat niemand haar op de hoogte brengt van wat ze zo graag wil ontdekken. Het is van een betutteling die een lezer niet meer kan verdragen, zelfs niet als je rekening houdt met de Victoriaanse waarden. Collins’ idee over vrouwen (dat ze uiteindelijk toch het liefst gedomineerd worden door een man) botst met de zelfstandigheid van zijn vroegere heldinnen. Maar de frustratie ligt vooral in het feit dat je als lezer alles al lang doorhebt, en moet kijken hoe zij spartelt, hoe ze er maar niet in slaagt om voor de hand liggende conclusies te trekken. Als Holmes irriteert doordat hij te slim is voor de lezer, dan irriteert onze heldin doordat ze struikelt over de clues en die nog niet ziet. Heb ik het beste van Collins achter de rug?

[Lora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Collins. Chapter after chapter, characters talk to one another, ask a lot of questions, dodge questions, worry themselves sick, and then hold further conferences with other characters. Oh, and they write a lot of letters which they then carry around showing to others and discussing in depth. The pace picks up as this continual conversational method of plot advancement and clue reveal builds in intensity. I was almost bored enough to quit for two-thirds of the book.
I also was in agony over Collins' multiple excessively annoying characters- I felt like I was trapped at a party or something. He did a good job of capturing the character of the kinds of people I avoid, so encountering several in one book was a bit of a physical experience for me, to say the least. I appreciate his ability but beg him, dead as he is, never to do that to me again.
Back to the book.
A mild mystery, in its way. Collins is a great writer, even when his book is one of his weaker ones. I had the opportunity to gossip with my daughter about fictional characters, which we love to do over lunch between classes. There were a lot of characters to gossip about! So while I hated that, I also enjoyed complaining about it to my sympathetic fellow Collins fan.
Not a bad time was had by all.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still love Wilkie Collins and his gift at making Victorian literature entertaining for me. I just didn't enjoy this as much as others I've read because there was a bit too much of coincidental happenings to make this truly plausible. The heroine Emily Brown is at a girls' school that just happens to employ her father's former love and her new job brings into contact with the inn proprietors where her father died. Also, her best friend happens to unknowingly invite the suspected murderer to a house party where he meets Emily and falls in love. Despite all these coincidences, I enjoyed the story as Emily worked to figure out the truth behind her father's death. I was pleased that everyone got what they deserved- a happy ending for Emily and her art master and that conniving Miss De Sor shunned by everyone including her family.

[Julio Barradas Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un libro que no me gusto tanto.
Es un poco predecible, aunque el como se efectúan los sucesos, no me lo esperaba.
No sentí personajes buenos ni malos, solo personajes que actuaron acuerdo a la circunstancias en las que se encontraban, punto que me gusto.
Algo como no me convenció fue, como es posible que todos sientan un interés por el personaje, que todo mundo quede encantado con ella -_-.
Esta es una obra menor de Wilkie, si entretiene, hay misterio, y siempre te preguntas porque hacen eso, o que esconden cada uno de los personajes, cumple el propósito de entretener y solo eso.

[Loraine Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book delightful. This is my second book of Wilkie's and although it isn't a patch in comparison to The Woman In White, the suspense kept me enthralled. The book is an easy read , the characters I loved , especially nasty Francine from school ( there has to be a nasty lady , amongst all the ladies). If I had read this book and not been aware of the author I would say his writing style is not of his era. He could be any modern writer. He is definitely an author who in my ratings is up there with Dickens.

[Faye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 2.5 stars? This is one of Collins' later novels, when he was ill and had lost a lot of his spark. The plot is weak and predictable, the characters over-react to everything, and it's full of tropes that were even getting old in Victorian times... but it's Wilkie Collins, so it still has charm and beautiful writing even if it lacks his usual magic. It's sad, really, knowing what he was capable of.

[CarrieLyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the reason Wilkie Collins was so prolific is that the writing is so similar from novel to novel. I kept thinking this was a book I'd already read. Somewhat compelling, but I think I've had my fill of this genre for a while (part of an Anthology of 20 Must Read Classic British Mystery Novels).

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a huge Wilkie Collins fan but this is a bit of a mess, frankly. The plot doesn't hang together and the characters seem to change their natures at random. I do like the food-obsessed beauty, though, and Mirabel was a good Wilkie-esque weakling.

[Katherine Padilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mystery. The cast of teenage girls and, in particular, the machinations of one of them made this feel, at times, as if it were a young adult soap opera. That wasn’t what I expected! I enjoyed the audiobook by Sandra G a lot.

[Wendy]

DNF after the disturbing declaration of love from the drawing master. Maybe that was what romance was like in the late 1800s, but now it is CREEEPY

[Gabby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not Wilkie Collins' strongest work, but I definitely did not guess the ending.

[Fleur maria Claassen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ero indecisa se assegnare a questo romanzo 2 o 3 stelle... Collins scrive benissimo come sempre e quindi meritava sicuramente di più. Anche la trama pare avvincente: c'è una ragazza, Emily Brown, il cui padre è morto in circostanze misteriose. Quasi tutti quelli che la circondano ne sono al corrente, ma per risparmiarle un dolore glielo tengono nascosto. Tuttavia Emily inizierà ad indagare e scoprirà la verità.
Purtroppo la vicenda non è sviluppata nel migliore dei modi e i personaggi non conquistano il lettore.
Leggibile, ma nulla più.

[Ximena · Rating 4 out of 5]

tanto despapaye con JB y para que terminara siendo suicido

[Moonshadow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Wilkie Collins at his finest. Great story and writing. The characters leap off the page!