Large ImageWilkie Collins Collection - The Moonstone, No Name, The Woman In White and After Dark (Illustrated and Annotated + Audio Links)
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Description
Included in this 3,000 page plus collection:
The Moonstone - Special "Magic" Edition
No Name
The Woman In White
After Dark
The Moonstone - Special "Magic" Edition
The Moonstone was described by T. S. Eliot as 'the first and greatest of English detective novels.' Published in 1868, it is one of the two books for which Collins is famous. Several incidents in the story are taken from the real life Constance Kent Road Case and the plot is Collins at his diabolical best. Many of the novel's elements have since become classic features of the detective genre: the eventual conviction of the least-likely suspect; a bungling investigation led by local police and taken over by a more perceptive, slightly eccentric detective, the idea of a 'mcguffin' or object (in this case a diamond) that everyone wants and around which the plot pivots - to name but a few of the classic tropes first seen here.
The story begins with a brief prologue describing how the eponymous diamond was captured during a military campaign in India by a British officer in 1799. The action moves quickly to 1848 England, where, according to the British officer's will, the diamond has been given to one of the soldier's young relatives, Rachel Verinder. Rachel wears the stone to her birthday party, but that night it disappears from her room. Was it stolen by a relative? A servant? And who are these three Indian men who keep hanging around the estate? The intriguing and absorbing plot is told from the point of view of multiple characters - fracturing the narrative in a structure with built in suspense and a style that would be much imitated by later novelists.
This complete unabridged edition includes original illustrations from the rare late-Victorian book Magic by Albert A. Hopkins.
No Name
Sisters Magdalen and Norah Vanstone and her sister Norah are left to fend for themselves when their parents die and a disturbing truth becomes public. Disinherited by law and brutally ousted from Combe-Raven, the idyllic country estate which has been their peaceful home since childhood, the two young women choose radically different means to get their lives back on track. While Nora follows a path of duty and hardship as a governess, Magdalen uses her good looks to pursue a course of revenge on the men who destroyed her father. Aided by the audacious swindler Captain Wragge, she braves a series of trials leading up to the climactic test: can she trade herself in marriage to the man she loathes? Written in the early 1860s, between The Woman in White and The Moonstone, No Name was rejected as immoral by critics of its time, but is today regarded as a novel of outstanding social insight, showing Collins at the height of his powers. No Name is presented with original illustrations and links to a free full-length audio recording.
The Woman In White
Collins' fifth published novel, The Woman in White caused unprecedented excitement when it appeared in 1859 and has not lost its capacity to thrill. It is arguably the author's masterpiece and is widely regarded to be among the first mystery novels, as well as one of the first (and finest) in the genre of "sensation novels."
After Dark
Six chilling short stories in a rare edition of the little read anthology.
The Wilkie Collins Collection includes links to free full-length audio recordings of The Moonstone, No Name and The Woman In White.
*Individual Table of Contents for each book.
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