Most Popular Books by WILKIE COLLINS

Intrigue, investigations, thievery, drugs and murder all make an appearance in Collins’s classic who-done-it, The Moonstone. Published in serial form in 1868, it was inspired in part by a spectacular murder case widely reported in the early 1860s. Collins’s story revolves around a diamond stolen from a Hindu holy place. On her eighteenth birthday, Rachel Verinder receives the diamond, but by the following morning the stone has been stolen again. As the story unravels through multiple eyewitness accounts, the elderly Sergeant Cuff—with a face “sharp as a hatchet”—looks for the culprit. One of Collins’s best-loved novels, with an exciting plot moved along by deftly-drawn characters and elegant pacing, The Moonstone was also turned into a play by Collins; the play appears as an appendix to this edition.

William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 - 23 September 1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and short story writer. His best-known works are The Woman in White (1859), No Name (1862), Armadale (1866) and The Moonstone (1868). The last is considered the first modern English detective novel. Born into the family of painter William Collins in London, he lived with his family in Italy and France as a child and learned French and Italian. He worked as a clerk for a tea merchant. After his first novel, Antonina, was published in 1850, he met Charles Dickens, who became a close friend, mentor and collaborator. Some of Collins''s works were first published in Dickens'' journals All the Year Round and Household Words and the two collaborated on drama and fiction. Collins published his best known works in the 1860s, achieved financial stability and an international reputation. During that time he began suffering from gout. After taking opium for the pain, he developed an addiction. During the 1870s and 1880s the quality of his writing declined along with his health.

The moonstone in the title refers to a brilliant but flawed gem seized by a British officer in India. He brought it back to England as a family heirloom - with a supposed curse placed upon it. The officer bequeathed the stone to his niece, Rachel Verinder, for her to inherit when she turns 18. The night of her 18th birthday, the Moonstone goes missing. Everyone connected with Rachel at her family estate in Yorkshire is under suspicion. It is up to the London detective, Sergeant Cuff, to solve the crime.

"The Moonstone is a page-turner", writes Carolyn Heilbrun. "It catches one up and unfolds its amazing story through the recountings of its several narrators, all of them enticing and singular." Wilkie Collins’s spellbinding tale of romance, theft, and murder inspired a hugely popular genre–the detective mystery. Hinging on the theft of an enormous diamond originally stolen from an Indian shrine, this riveting novel features the innovative Sergeant Cuff, the hilarious house steward Gabriel Betteridge, a lovesick housemaid, and a mysterious band of Indian jugglers.

The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859-1860, and first published in book form in 1860. It is considered to be among the first mystery novels and is...

"The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859-1860, and first published in book form in 1860. It is considered to be among the first mystery novels and is widely regarded as one of the first (and finest) in the genre of ''sensation novels''.As was customary at that time, The Woman in White was first published as a magazine serial. The first episode appeared on 29 November 1859, following Charles Dickens''s own A Tale of Two Cities in Dickens''s magazine All the Year Round in England, and Harper''s Magazine in America. It caused an immediate sensation. Julian Symons (in his 1974 introduction to the Penguin edition) reports that ""queues formed outside the offices to buy the next instalment. Bonnets, perfumes, waltzes and quadrilles were called by the book''s title. Gladstone cancelled a theatre engagement to go on reading it. And Prince Albert sent a copy to Baron Stockmar."

In an early example of detective fiction, this gothic mystery novel is a thrilling tale of mistaken identities, forbidden love, and a woman shrouded in mystery. Walter Hartright is a young drawing master who finds himself unwittingly entangled in a web of intrigue when he encounters a mysterious woman dressed entirely in white. Little does he know that this chance meeting will set off a chain of events leading him into a labyrinth of secrets. As Walter delves deeper into the enigma surrounding the woman in white, he becomes embroiled in a complex plot involving family secrets, hidden identities, and manipulative schemes. First published in 1859, The Woman in White showcases Wilkie Collins'' masterful grasp of the gothic genre with his ability to craft suspenseful and atmospheric scenes.

This premium quality large print volume includes the complete and unabridged text of Wilkie Collins'' classic tale of mystery and suspense in a freshly edited and newly typeset edition. With a large 7.44"x9.69" page size, this large print edition is printed on heavyweight bright white paper with a fully laminated cover featuring an original full color design. Page headers and modern design and page layout exemplify the attention to detail given this volume. Widely regarded as the first mystery novel in the English language and a forerunner of modern detective fiction, The Woman in White, published in 1860, opens with a chance encounter on a moonlit country road in England between a mysterious woman dressed in white and Walter Hartright, on his way to Limmeridge House, the country mansion where the eccentric Frederick Fairlie has arranged for Hartright to teach drawing to his nieces, the half-sisters Marian and Laura Fairlie. At the approach of a carriage the woman vanishes into the darkness and Hartright accepts a ride the rest of the way to Limmeridge House. Hartright falls in love with Laura, a wealthy heiress with an uncanny resemblance to the mysterious woman he encountered on the road. But Laura has pledged to marry Sir Percival Glyde. Hartright departs Limmeridge, the wedding takes place and the mystery deepens when Laura returns from the honeymoon, moody, morose and melancholy. The enigmatic Count Fosco, a friend of Sir Percival, casts a sinister shadow as secrets unravel and the truth is revealed, and Hartright returns in an attempt to save the sisters and expose the dark mystery surrounding Limmeridge House. William Wilkie Collins (1824 - 1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and author. Very popular during the Victorian era, Collins was a long-time close friend of Charles Dickens, and a number of Collins''s works were first published in Dickens'' magazines, with The Woman in White first appearing as a serial in Dickens'' "All the Year Round" journal. For decades Collins maintained a double life, living with one family under his own name, despite the fact that the woman he identified as his wife, Caroline Graves, was actually married to someone else, and with a second family, located nearby, under the name William Dawson. Although that family also used the name Dawson, Collins was not married to that woman, Martha Rudd, either. Collins'' lifestyle may have influenced his writing, in which he attacked such social issues as the legal treatment of illegitimate children and the relative helplessness of women forced by law and society to be dependent upon a husband. Trained as a lawyer and admitted to the bar, Collins never engaged in active practice, but this background influenced his work. In addition to works critical of the legal system and English law, in both The Woman in White and Moonstone (1868) Collins employed an unusual style, presenting the story as a series of "narratives" from the viewpoints of different characters. In the opening paragraphs of The Woman in White, Collins likens this to the manner in which evidence is typically produced in legal proceedings. Following an extremely productive and successful decade in the 1860''s the quality and popularity of Collins'' work began to decline, quite probably influenced by the death of his literary mentor, Dickens, in 1870 and the effects of his addiction to opium and laudanum as painkillers for his gout. Another factor was likely the increasingly strident tone of the social criticism injected into his work. Collins continued to publish both fiction and nonfiction, and was working on a novel, Blind Love, later finished by another writer, at the time of his death in 1889 following a stroke.

Widely regarded as the precursor of the modern mystery and suspense novels, The Moonstone tells of the events surrounding the disappearance of a mysterious (and cursed) yellow diamond. T. S. Eliot called it ''the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels''. It contains a number of ideas which became common tropes of the genre, including a crime being investigated by talented amateurs who happen to be present when it is committed, and two police officers who exemplify respectively the ''Scotland Yard bungler'' and the skilled, professional detective.

The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859-1860, and first published in book form in 1860. It is considered to be among the first mystery novels and is widely regarded as one of the first (and finest) in the genre of ''sensation novels''.As was customary at that time, The Woman in White was first published as a magazine serial. The first episode appeared on 29 November 1859, following Charles Dickens''s own A Tale of Two Cities in Dickens''s magazine All the Year Round in England, and Harper''s Magazine in America. It caused an immediate sensation. Julian Symons (in his 1974 introduction to the Penguin edition) reports that "queues formed outside the offices to buy the next instalment. Bonnets, perfumes, waltzes and quadrilles were called by the book''s title. Gladstone cancelled a theatre engagement to go on reading it. And Prince Albert sent a copy to Baron Stockmar."

"The Frozen Deep" by using Wilkie Collins is a captivating story of love, sacrifice, and redemption set in opposition to the backdrop of an ill-fated Arctic day trip. The story follows the lives of three imperative characters: Clara Burnham, Frank Aldersley, and Richard Wardour, whose destinies emerge as intertwined in a dramatic collection of activities. As the narrative unfolds, we research of Clara''s engagement to Frank, a naval officer, and the presence of Richard, a brooding and mysterious figure with a tragic past. When the expedition units’ sail for the Arctic, tensions upward push many of the group, leading to a harrowing war of words that checks the characters'' braveness and solve. Against the backdrop of the unforgiving Arctic landscape, Collins weaves a tale of affection and betrayal, exploring issues of honor, duty, and the iconic electricity of the human spirit. As the characters confront their private fears and dreams, they have to grapple with the results of their alternatives and ultimately face the consequences in their actions. With its compelling narrative and shiny descriptions, "The Frozen Deep" is a gripping tale of adventure and romance a good way to preserve readers enthralled until the very cease.

William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 - 23 September 1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and writer of short stories. He was hugely popular in his time, and wrote 27 novels, more than 50 short stories, at least 15 plays, and over 100 pieces of non-fiction work. His best-known works are The Woman in White, The Moonstone, Armadale and No Name.

The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859-1860, and first published in book form in 1860. It is considered to be among the first mystery novels and is widely regarded as one of the first (and finest) in the genre of ''sensation novels''.As was customary at that time, The Woman in White was first published as a magazine serial. The first episode appeared on 29 November 1859, following Charles Dickens''s own A Tale of Two Cities in Dickens''s magazine All the Year Round in England, and Harper''s Magazine in America. It caused an immediate sensation. Julian Symons (in his 1974 introduction to the Penguin edition) reports that "queues formed outside the offices to buy the next instalment. Bonnets, perfumes, waltzes and quadrilles were called by the book''s title. Gladstone cancelled a theatre engagement to go on reading it. And Prince Albert sent a copy to Baron Stockmar."

The Woman in White is Wilkie Collins''s fifth published novel, written in 1859. It is considered to be among the first mystery novels and is widely regarded as one of the first in the genre of "sensation novels".

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

The Woman in White is an epistolary novel written by Wilkie Collins in 1859, serialized in 1859-1860, and first published in book form in 1860. It is considered to be among the first mystery novels and is widely regarded as one of the first (and finest) in the genre of ''sensation novels''. As was customary at that time, The Woman in White was first published as a magazine serial. The first episode appeared on 29 November 1859, following Charles Dickens''s own A Tale of Two Cities in Dickens''s magazine All the Year Round in England, and Harper''s Magazine in America. It caused an immediate sensation. Julian Symons (in his 1974 introduction to the Penguin edition) reports that "queues formed outside the offices to buy the next instalment. Bonnets, perfumes, waltzes and quadrilles were called by the book''s title. Gladstone cancelled a theatre engagement to go on reading it. And Prince Albert sent a copy to Baron Stockmar." So don''t wait! Scroll up and buy now.