Armadale, Wilkie Collins
Armadale, Wilkie Collins
List: $67.00 | Sale: $46.91
Club: $33.50

Armadale

Author: Wilkie Collins

Narrator: Lucy Scott

Abridged: 30 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/17/2020

Categories: Fiction, Classic


Synopsis

Two young men linked by a familial murder mystery, a beautiful yet wicked governess who spins a web of deceit, and five individuals named Allan Armadale: Wilkie Collins' follow-up to The Woman in White and No Name is an innovative take on mistaken identity, the nature of evil and the dark underbelly of Victorian England. The story concerns two distant cousins, both named Allan Armadale, and the impact of a family tragedy, which makes one of them a target of the murderous Lydia Gwilt, a vicious and malevolent charmer determined to get her hands on the Armadale fortune. Will the real Allan Armadale be revealed, and will he survive the plot against his life?

About Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins was an English novelist who critics often credit with the invention of the English detective novel. Sergeant Cuff from Collins's novel The Moonstone became a prototype of the detective hero in English fiction. Collins's works center on mainstream Victorian domestic life. Collins liked to tackle social issues, and many of his novels contain sympathetic portraits of physically abnormal individuals. In addition to Moonstone, he is well known for his popular suspense thriller The Woman in White, No Name, and Armadale.

Collins was born in London in 1824 to William Collins, a well-known landscape painter, and Harriet Collins, the daughter of a painter. Despite a secure home, he was a small, sickly child and had a slightly deformed skull. He was educated privately and studied painting for several years. He later studied law and became a lawyer at the age of twenty-seven. Collins never practiced law, but he did put his legal knowledge to work in his crime writing.

In 1851, Collins met his lifelong friend and mentor Charles Dickens while they were pursuing a mutual interest in amateur theater. Dickens helped Collins bring humor and believable characters into his books.The two women in Collins's life-Caroline Graves, his life-long companion, and Mrs. Martha Rudd, his mistress-also greatly influenced his writing.

During the 1860s, Collins started to suffer severely from rheumatic pains and became addicted to laudanum, a form of opium. The death of Dickens in 1870 robbed him of his powerful inspiration, and his popularity declined. In 1873, he met Mark Twain and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on a trip to the United States. Soon thereafter he wrote The Evil Genius, which was published in 1886. Collins died from a stroke on September 23, 1889.


Reviews

Αρμαντέιλ, ένα όνομα καταραμένο απο τη μοίρα, ευλογημένο απο την ελεύθερη βούληση. Προκαθορισμένο ταξίδι στον μεταφυσικά αναπόφευκτο μονόδρομο της προκατάληψης ή τροποποιημένος προορισμός επιλογής ελεγχόμενος απο ανθρώπινες αποφάσεις; Αρμαντέιλ, διαβόητη κληρονομιά αριστοκρατικής προέλευσης δραματικώ......more

There can be no doubt, I love Wilkie Collins writing. It is like I am sitting in a comfortable chair by the fireside, feet up, sipping my wine and listening intently as he tells me a story. This marks the third Wilkie Collins book that I have read and now my second favourite next to The Woman in Whi......more

Τον Wilkie Collins τον είχα γνωρίσει πριν έναν χρόνο με την Γυναίκα με τα Άσπρα. Εντελώς τυχαία είδα το βιβλίο αυτό (άγνωστο για εμένα μέχρι εκείνη την στιγμή) σε προσφορά... ... Το πήρα παρόλο το μεγάλο του μέγεθος, το οποίο στην αρχή με τρόμαξε (1214 σελίδες), χωρίς να ξέρω κάτι για την υπόθεση, έ......more

I'm going to start this review with a seemingly random quote from The Simpsons. Milhouse, Bart's best friend, is listing the many mean pranks Bart has played on him over the years. One such prank involved lying to Milhouse after Bart's dog eats his goldfish. Bart tries to convince Milhouse that he n......more

Goodreads review by Katie

Maybe 4.5. I thoroughly enjoyed this - possibly my favourite Wilkie Collins novel so far. It was really engaging throughout, with fascinating characters and a good gripping plot.......more