Poor Miss Finch

Poor Miss Finch (1872) by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century novel about a young blind woman who falls in love with a man, but confuses him with his brother.

Plot summary

Miss Finch, daughter of a clergyman, has been blind since her first year. When she grows up, two doctors each examine her eyes with a view to determining the cause of her blindness, and ascertaining whether the condition can be remedied.

Both agree that the condition is cataracts, but whereas the German doctor believes an operation will cure the girl's sight, the English doctor believes nothing of value would likely be achieved.

The German doctor operates, and the girl gradually recovers her sight.

Meanwhile, a man has fallen in love with her, but, due to a violent encounter, suffers epilepsy, for which he takes medication which discolours his skin. When Miss Finch recovers her sight, she sees him and his brother, who not being discoloured, is more handsome. She mistakes the two, and, wanting her for himself, the fiance's brother deliberately contrives to maintain the fiction.

Eventually, things are made up, and the guilty brother goes away. The adventures have led to Miss Finch overusing her eyes and losing her sight. The German doctor offers to operate again, but Miss Finch, at the recommendation of her father (who believes her blindness was God's will) declines the offer. She marries her true beloved.