I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woolrich Review - Book Report/Review Example

Crime Fiction The paper is a book review of a short novel story ‘I MARRIED A DEAD MAN. This book talk talks of a mistaken identity of a woman with a poor background. She is mistaken to be somebody else whom she never imagined being once in her life. This changes her life in a positive way even though she was reluctant at the beginning of this entire story. After her real identity is those who mistaken her come to ignore it and nothing changed. This book is believed to be published in 1948. The book talk of a lady named Helen. Helen is said to be pregnant at the start of the story. Her pregnancy was eight months old. She was involved with a man at the age of 18, who was a great womanizer. After the man impregnated her, she was left alone in that town Helen had nowhere to go to. She was cast aside by her paramour. Being pregnant and unmarried, the girl had only one place to go. She had an idea of going back home. The man sent her a train ticket and a five-dollar bill. The train ticket was to take her to her home town which was San Francisco (Woolrich, 32). She had no other choice but to book a train and leave to her home town. Since she was miserable and depressed for what was happening in her life. Moreover, she had nothing to live for at that particular time. She went on and took a train that was headed to the town. Patrice and Hugh Hazzard was a young married couple who had also booked the train and they were headed to the same direction as Helen. Helen was cheerful for a moment when she came to have a company of the couple. The couple was visiting their parents back in the town. It was a co-incident that Hazards’ wife Patrice was also pregnant. Moreover, the pregnancies were also of almost the same age. It was on this train that Helen came to learn that the family of Hazzard has never come to contact with Patrice. They have never met each other and they do not know even her face, her height or even her size. The couple and Helen ended up boarding the same room. They continued to share the life stories as they got on with their journey home. As the nature took its place, Helen and Patrice had to take a shower. They decide to have a shower together. In the shower, Hazzards’ wife Patrice complained that her wedding band was loose and it might fall. She gave it to Helen for safe kipping. To keep it safe, Helen had to put the ring on her finger. As they were in the shower, this particular train got in a horrible accident. Many people on the train died while others ended up in a comer and winded up in a hospital. In the wreckage, Helen gave birth. Helen was one of those that found themselves in the hospital (Woolrich, 143). It was in the hospital that she realized that she was no longer pregnant. A mistaken identity had occurred in the hospital. She found out that she was being mistaken to be Patrice. Everyone in the hospital including the nurses believed that she was Patrice. She tries to make thing right, but no one believes her. It was due to this that she tries to find the truth of what had happened. It was late when she realized the Hazzard and his partner had passed away in the accident. She realized that the real Patrice was being mistaken for Helen. Nobody in the hospital took her serious as she tried to explain what had happened earlier. It was because the ring on her finger had name on the sides. At the time, it came to her knowledge that the family of Hazzard was among the wealthiest families in the town. She had a second though on how the position of the family to help in the bringing up of her child better than how she could have done it. With this on her mind, she decides to go along with the situation at hand. She started adjusting herself slowly to the new life style while happily caring for her child (Woolrich, 189). The time came when she met Hazzards’ mother. The mother had a heart condition that any stress could make her sick. The mother convinced Helen to go with her at their home. Helen had a decision to make as she was afraid to make the woman ill by refusing to move in with her. This could lead to serious stress to the old lady as she wanted them to go with her. Helen having nowhere else to go to, and also the believe that it was the best thing to do to both her baby and to the old lady, she agreed to go with the lady to her home. The only thing that Helen saw to be good with this request was the well being of her baby but not the wealth of the family. Helen went on with her life in the family, and after the initial shock. Helen met Hazzards’ twin brother Bill. It is in the book that this life was one the kind that Helen never expected in her whole life. Here, life seemed to be difficult for her. As the society around her was of high standards and it looked different. It is that Helen finds it difficult to adjust to this lifestyle. Bill, Hazzards’ brother, started to have many questions on the identity of Helen. All this came as a result of Bill being worried that Helen was after the family’s wealth. Bill sets his goals on finding the real identity of her. He started investigating this on his own and finally comes with the truth of who Helen was (Woolrich, 221). After some time, Bill started having some feeling toward Helen. One day as they were having a walk around the town, the two started to bond. After Bill realized the plan of including Helen and her baby in his mothers will, he plans to revile the true identity of Helen to others who were unaware of it later that night. He then changes her mind when he saw Helen upset and begging the mother not to include her on the will. Helens’ protests never yielded any result as the mother insisted on including them after the protest even more. After these actions, one person had a demand that Bill and Helen were to dance together. In the dance, the two ended up kissing each other and accepted the fact that they loved each other. The big family then grew up in loving each other and knowing each other better. It turned out that the old mother grew fond of Helen each day and the mother came to bond with Helen. There was a time when Helen felt guilty that she had taken the advantage of the mothers’ kindness and started having other thoughts of fleeing. She then decided to leave the place secretly. She decided to go away with her child without anyone knowing where she had gone to. As she was parking, Bill discovers that Helen had wanted to escape. Bill had fallen in love with Helen and he did not want her to leave. He tried in so many way to stop her. He even proposed to her that night. After proposing to her, he leaves and told her to think of it and give him an answer the following morning (Woolrich, 255). Even after all the requests, Helen decided to leave. One person follows her up to the rain station who talks to her about his own shady past. She then realized how important they be to the old lady as she was to them. After all this, she decided to return home only to realize that the old lady had a heart attack after she realized that Helen was missing. She had a decision to make and stayed. She later got married to Bill. It came a time when Steve the man who had dumped Helen in the past was around and he had realized that Helen had a good fortune. Steve tries many ways to black main Helen. This brought tension in the family. In the process, Steve was shot. This brought confusion as Bill and Helen thought that each one is responsible for the shooting. At this moment, is when Bill comes in with the idea of Helens’ identity. He talks the truth about Helens’ identity and he concludes that he loved him. The two i.e. Helen and Bill think that they are home free until the day of their wedding that the priest talks to Helen and Bill that their mother are going to confess to the murder case (Woolrich, 286). This led to a situation where both ran to the old lady and confessed to being the once responsible. The police came to their rescue as they told them that they already had the suspect in custody and none of the three was. It was said that it was a woman who was dumped by Steve after getting her pregnant. The same situation that had happened with Helen in her past. Steve started seeing this woman after he dumped Helen on the streets. The book says that the police had come to question Helen on the check she had written out to go to Steve. The old lady hard the whole confession from Helen and said that she will get over it and that she would like more grandchildren. The wedding then proceeds as Bill presents Helen with wedding rings that were engraved with their name on the sides. The ring was like the one the real Patrice had (Woolrich, 354). . Work Cited Woolrich, Cornell. I married a dead man. New York: Penguin Books, 1994. Print. Read More