Showing results by author "Wilkie Collins" in All Categories

Wilkie Collins was the author of two of the greatest mysteries ever written, The Moonstone and The Woman in White. However, like Poe before him and Conan Doyle after, he shifted easily from rational domains to the "superrational". Like them, he often preferred to indulge his occult predilection, a lifelong interest. "The Dream Woman" is one his most anthologized stories of the supernatural.

Six of Wilkie Collins' best short stories: "The Dead Hand", "The Devil's Spectacles", "Major Namby", "Nine O'Clock", "A Terribly Strange Bed", and "My Black Mirror".

From the author of novels like The Moonstone and The Woman in White, Caprisha Page masterfully narrates the short story Mrs. Zant and the Ghost, the tale of a widower and his daughter as they encounter a mysterious woman in a London park. This chance encounter leads to them along a path that involves lost love, murder, (possibly) a ghost, and a fairly vicious love triangle. Is there a ghost? Can Mrs. Zant be saved? Or is it all merely madness?

When Arthur Holliday arrives at Doncaster during race week, he is unable to find a hotel room free. His search for a bed for the night leads him to a dubious hostelry, The Two Robins, where he is offered a bed in a shared room at a handsome price of five shillings. The landlord assures Arthur that his room-mate is sleeping soundly and will in no way disturb him. A quick examination of the sleeping man confirms that he is indeed very quiet. Too quiet!

The human form is familiar to all of us. We like limbs connected to bodies. Writers of the dark and macabre are not too concerned if that remains the case. Indeed limbs, or rather pieces of the body, sometimes are best written about when not connected. It’s one of our greatest fears. It quite rightly riddles us with a very unsettling feeling. So why then do we turn the page? We’re about to find out.

When an elderly widower takes up lodgings in London, she develops an interest in the mysterious house to let across the way. What follows is a collection of stories and poetry of the house's previous occupants that gradually builds up the history of the house before the mystery is revealed.

Mary and George love each other in early childhood, but George's father tears them apart, not believing that Mary, a bailiff's daughter, will be a fit match for his son. The family travel to America to pursue the father's dream of wealth. During George's absence, Mary moves to Scotland and, in order to survive, is forced into a marriage of convenience. George returns after 10 years to search for his promised bride and becomes obsessed and infatuated with a Mrs Van Brandt. Is the pursuit beginning to affect his sanity?

William "Wilkie" Collins was born in London in 1824. The name "Wilkie", by which he is known, was the surname of his godfather. In 1851, he met Charles Dickens and became the editor of Dickens' periodical Household Words. His novels were serialized in another of Dickens' publications, All the Year Round, and he is probably best known for two of them: "The Moonstone" and "The Woman in White". He wrote 30 novels and many short stories, plays, and much nonfiction.

On the night before their execution during the French Revolution, twenty-one condemned prisoners and their friends are permitted a last banquet before their trip to the guillotine on the morrow. While they feast and jest on their last night alive, they begin to speculate about the hour of the execution the next day. Only one prisoner, Duprat, is quiet on the subject. His friend Marginy questions him on the subject, and Duprat asserts than he knows the exact time at which he will die on the next day.

The Devil's Spectacles is perhaps Wilkie Collins' most unusual and bizarre tale. It tells the story of Alfred, a young landed gentleman who is given by Septimus Notman, a sailor on his deathbed, a pair of unusual spectacles. These, Septimus had received from the Devil in person, under most unusual circumstances. The spectacles have strange supernatural powers, enabling the wearer to see the thoughts and emotions of others around him.

A collection of short stories from such favorites as Wilkie Collins, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Rudyard Kipling are joined by others written anonymously in this anthology which will have you scratching your head and listening just a bit longer to discover the key to the mysteries.

Wilkie Collins was born on 8th January 1824 in Marylebone, London. He pursued his education at Mr Cole’s private boarding school in Highbury, Islington. Here, he began his literary career under unusual circumstances: the school bully would give him no peace until he had been told a bedtime story. This ‘little brute’ helped create one of England’s greatest writers.

We sit. We lie. We wait. We are examined. We are left alone. Emotions fritter. The door reopens. The face. Is it tinged with sadness or reassuring and open? The words. Are they easy to comprehend? Is it good news or bad? We can answer that. It’s bad. Undeniably bad. None of our authors have good news for you. The diagnosis? You already know that. Death.

In a tale delivering the best in the genre of romantic suspense, Willkie Collins’ novel The Yellow Mask, will hold you riveted from beginning to end. A priest believes the inheritance and great wealth of Count Fabio D’Ascoli was stolen from the Church many generations ago. This scheming priest decides to steal the money back and unleashes a mystery filled with terror and menace. Who is behind The Yellow Mask? Maddalena or...?

Stories of love and romance in 23 varieties.... From the very first lovers - Adam and Eve - to what romance might be like in the future, this collection sparkles with whimsy and goodold fashioned romance. A veritable box of chocolates without the calories!

A captivating anthology of some of the more unusual short stories written by well-known classic writers. 1. "A Witch in the Peak" by R. Murray Gilchrist. 2. "War" by Sherwood Anderson. 3. "Self-Help" by W. W. Jacobs. 4. "The Wolf" by Guy de Maupassant. 5. "Makes the Whole World Kin" by O. Henry. 6. "The Stone Dragon" by R. Murray Gilchrist. 7. "The New Englander" by Sherwood Anderson. 8. "Berenice" by Edgar Allan Poe. 9. "The Man with the Watches" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 10. "The Adventure of the Diamond Necklace" by G. F. Forest.

Sixteen classic stories.

After a riding accident involving her uncle, a respected General, Mina's life takes a dark turn. A new groom with a mysterious past and unsettling talents arrives at the estate, stirring whispers of hidden secrets and dangerous motives. As Mina delves deeper into the groom's enigma, she unravels a web of intrigue that threatens to upend everything she knows.

Une légende indienne prédit un désastre au mortel assez fou pour porter ses mains sur le joyau sacré « La Pierre de lune », un diamant de taille extraordinaire qui brille d'un éclat jaune.

Ernest Lismore is in financial difficulties. In return for a token marriage, he is offered help by the elderly Mrs. Callender whom he had saved from a fire some years earlier. Lismore eventually agrees and they live abroad as mother and son until he meets an attractive girl in an art gallery.