A witty, intricately-plotted exploration of a sudden fall from grace, the "Penguin Classics" edition of Wilkie Collins' "No Name" is edited with an introduction and notes by Mark Ford. Magdalen and her sister Norah, beloved daughters of Mr and Mrs Vanstone, find themselves the victims of a catastrop[...]
Wilkie Collins' "The Woman in White", the first Victorian 'sensation novel' and one of the earliest mystery novels in English, weaves multiple narratives into a thrilling and suspenseful tale of mistaken identity and dark desires. This "Penguin Classics" edition is edited with notes and an introduct[...]
The Woman in White (1859-60) is the first and greatest 'Sensation Novel'. Walter Hartright's mysterious midnight encounter with the woman in white draws him into a vortex of crime, poison, kidnapping, and international intrigue. The novel is dominated by two of the finest creations in all Victorian[...]
'the first and greatest of English detective novels' T.S.Eliot A fabulous yellow diamond becomes the dangerous inheritance of Rachel Verinder. Outside her Yorkshire country house watch the Hindu priests who have waited for many years to reclaim their ancient talisman, looted from the holy city of S[...]
Wilkie Collin's intriguing story about a blind girl, Lucilla Finch, and the identical twins who both fall in love with her, has the exciting complications of his better known novels, but it also overturns conventional expectations. Using a background of myth and fairy-tale to expand the boundaries o[...]
"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 detec[...]
The Moonstone is a stunning yellow diamond the size of a bird's egg that glows like the harvest moon and harbors a flaw in its brilliant depths. Inherited by the beautiful young Englishwoman Rachel Verinder, it is also a sacred talisman to the Hindu priests who hope to bring it back to their holy ci[...]
HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. 'The horrid mystery hanging over us in this house gets into my head like liquor, and makes me wild.' Centred around a glorious yellow diamond that carries with it a menacing history, The Moonstone tells the story of Rache[...]
HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. 'The woman who first gives life, light, and form to our shadowy conceptions of beauty, fills a void in our spiritual nature that has remained unknown to us till she appeared.' One of the earliest works of 'detective' fict[...]
During the Siege of Seringapatam in southern India in 1799, Colonel John Herncastle steals the Moonstone, a large yellow diamond, from the head of a Hindu god in a violent plunder. Jumping forward to 1848 England, Gabriel Betteredge, house steward of the Verinder estate, reveals that the famous ston[...]
The Moonstone is one of the most famous suspense novels of all time: a masterpiece of construction and the ultimate page-turner, it introduced one of the world's most beloved genres, the detective story. At a party celebrating her eighteenth birthday, Rachel Verinder wears the stunning yellow diamo[...]
1868, and bestselling author Wilkie Collins is hard at work on a new detective novel, The Moonstone. But he is weighed down by a mountain of problems - his own sickness, the death of his mother, and, most pressing, the announcement by his live-in mistress that she has tired of his relationship with [...]
Short and oddly built, with a head too big for his body, extremely short-sighted, dressed in colourful clothes, Wilkie Collins looked distinctly strange. But he was none the less a charmer, befriended by the great, loved by children, irresistibly attractive to women - and avidly read by generations [...]
Marian and her sister Laura live a quiet life under their uncle's guardianship until Laura's marriage to Sir Percival Glyde. Sir Percival is a man of many secrets - is one of them connected to the strange appearances of a young woman dressed all in white? And what does his charismatic friend, Count [...]
When Rachel Verinder receives a gift of an astonishing yellow diamond from her bitter old uncle for her eighteenth birthday, she has no idea that the stone brings great danger with it. When the diamond goes missing during the night the ensuing investigations gradually bring to light the sinister his[...]
After the tragic deaths of their parents, Magdalen and Norah discover the devastating news that they are both illegitimate and not entitled to any inheritance. Norah is forced to become a governess to earn her keep but Magdalen has grander plans and embarks on an elaborate scheme of revenge against [...]
A biography that brings to life one of England's greatest writers against the backdrop of Victorian London and all its complexities.[...]
"The Moonstone" is one of the first true works of detective fiction, in which Wilkie Collins established the groundwork for the genre itself. This "Penguin Classics" edition is edited with an introduction by Sandra Kemp. "The Moonstone", a priceless yellow diamond, is looted from an Indian temple an[...]
Horror lies waiting. A sinister Countess is driven mad by a dark secret. An innocent woman is made the instrument of retribution. A murdered man's fury reaches beyond the grave. When Countess Narona marries Agnes Lockwood's fiance and takes him to live in a rundown Venetian palace, strange things st[...]
Gentle art teacher Walter Hartright has fallen in love with his student, Laura. But she is marrying the wicked Sir Percival, who wants to destroy her reputation and steal her fortune. But who is the mysterious woman in white who haunts the moonlit roads and hidden graveyards? And will her secret sav[...]
When Rachel Verinder is given the Moonstone - a large Indian diamond - on her eighteenth birthday, she is delighted to show it off at her celebrations. But that very night, the jewel is stolen from her bedroom. Will the noted detective Sergeant Cuff be able to solve the mystery?[...]
Part of "Penguin's" beautiful hardback "Clothbound Classics" series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. "The Woman in White" famously opens with Walter H[...]
This is the "Penguin English Library Edition" of "The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins. 'Here was our quiet English house suddenly invaded by a devilish Indian Diamond - bringing after it a conspiracy of living rogues, set loose on us by the vengeance of a dead man'. When Rachel Verinder's birthday pres[...]
This is the "Penguin English Library Edition" of "The Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins. 'In one moment, every drop of blood in my body was brought to a stop ...There, as if it had that moment sprung out of the earth ...stood the figure of a solitary Woman, dressed from head to foot in white'. "The [...]