The Wheel Spins (The Lady Vanishes) by Ethel Lina White: Part 1

Send us Fan MailIn THE WHEEL SPINS (1936), a young woman’s train journey takes a sinister turn when a fellow passenger mysteriously disappears. This suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat novel by Ethel Lina White served as the basis for Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic film The Lady Vanishes. The book is a stunner.Special guest Alex Csurko joins us to discuss this classic novel. Check out the conversation starters below. Weigh in, and you might just get an on-air shoutout and a fab sticker!Get your book here!Watch clips from our conversation with Alex!Join our  brand new  Patreon community here! It's free to join, with extra perks for members at every level.HitchcockEven reading the book by Ethel Lina White, it felt like it could be a Hitchcock film with the psychological tension and the way the scenes are painted. The New York Times ranked it the best picture of the year (1938).Premonition/Foreboding (Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign)The first paragraph introduces us to Iris. Every chapter, starting with chapter one, ends with a sense of foreboding.Safety vs. danger – Iris’ square on her palmMiss Froy is homesick, which she sees as a warning.The dangerous hike (being lost) was a warning.Rose’s dream of a railway smash.Iris passes out from sunstroke and barely makes the train.Miss Froy’s story about an Englishwoman locked in an asylum (friendless foreigner who didn’t speak the language) Mr. and Mrs. Froy feel apprehensive about their daughter’s safety.Premonition plays a role throughout the book by Ethel Lina White. Is it just a psychological variable here? Is premonition real? Is it inescapable?Stranger in a Strange LandIn The Wheel Turns by Ethel Lina White, Iris and her friends are staying in a village of “picturesque squalor in a remote corner of Europe,” filled with barbarous scenery, magnificent ruggedness, and desolate hollows. She doesn’t speak the language or understand the culture. She’s also an outsider amongst the British “decent, well-bred” guests. And when she passes out at the station from sunstroke, she awakes to foreign people and foreign voices. Keep  your eye on Crippen & Landru  to see  when  the new Ethel Lina White collection drops!A Legal CriticismAs Iris waits at the train station, she overhears a disagreement between Hare and the professor. Hare says trial by jury is poor justice, people have inherent biases, people can’t control themselves from erroneous snap judgements, and even evidence isn’t reliable. He says everyone’s a “bag of his special prejudices” (50) and an unreliable witness.Iris rather takes Hare’s side, but then agrees with the professor’s side when she thinks about trusting the solid, dependable British woman over a foreign seductress type.Then Iris finds herself in this exact situation. She’s the beautiful, hysterical, rude attention seeker. She’s the least reliable person on the train — and the only one who’s right.Not even Hare believes her at all, though she directly calls into reality his own arguments.Linden BotanicalsWe sell the world’s healthiest herbal teas and extracts.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showhttps://www.instagram.com/teatonicandtoxin/https://www.facebook.com/teatonicandtoxinhttps://www.teatonicandtoxin.comStay mysterious...