No Thoroughfare is a mystery story written by Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens.
It was originally published in the Extra Christmas Number of All the Year Round, 12 December 1867 and in Every Saturday, Boston, December 1867.
Written with a stage adaptation in mind, the story is divided into an 'Overture' and three 'Acts'.
The dramatisation followed publication almost immediately,
opening at the Adelphi Theatre on 26 December 1867.
The edition I read was a Project Gutenberg e-book - released April 4, 2005
in the beginning was a clock
St Paul's iconic clock
marking the time for
a great journey
to begin
a foundling
a little nameles
synchronises with good fortune
but the wine is not yet
quite ready
there are masks and mysteries
truths and deceits
the usual rubble of circumstance
and then
far away
is a mountain to climb
inclement weather to face
and survive
good wine
needs to mature
slowly
but surely
in the end was a clock
a clock-lock
marking the time for
a great journey
to go on
MY GOODREADS REVIEW
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Deep in the shades of 1835 London unfolds a story, a mystery. Walter Wilding is a foundling with enigmatic connections. A developing wine business, inherited by Wilding, slowly unmasks the seedy character of Obenreizer, a man keen to further his own fortune, even if it means bartering the life of his fair niece Marguerite and her love for George Vendale, Wilding's partner. It takes a hazardous trip to Switzerland before all the threatening, mysterious shades can be laid to rest. The clock-lock affair (and a secret room) spins a wonderful, tense climax.
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