Bücher von Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins' fourth published novel, The Dead Secret, is the story of Rosamond Treverton and the revelation of a secret that changes her life forever. Rosamond, the daughter of a wealthy actress is married to a blind man Leonard Frankland. During childbirth, her acting nurse Sarah gives Rosamund a cryptic warning to avoid the room in which the Secret is hidden.What is hidden in the room? What does she find out?A haunting past is coming for her that could prove disastrous for her and the entire estate.Wilkie Collins's brilliant characters, suspenseful plots, and piercing look into Victorian-era society are on full display in this brilliant novel.

The Moonstone, a classical book, has been considered essential throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we at Alpha Editions have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies of their original work and hence the text is clear and readable.

Ce livre classique a été initialement publié il y a des décennies sous le titre " The Guilty River ". Il a maintenant été traduit par Writat en langue française pour leurs lecteurs francophones. Chez Writat, nous sommes passionnés par la préservation du patrimoine littéraire du passé. Nous avons traduit ce livre en français afin que les générations présentes et futures puissent le lire et le conserver.

Miss or Mrs.?, a classical book, has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we at Alpha Editions have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies of their original work and hence the text is clear and readable.

Man and Wife is the ninth novel by Wilkie Collins, and was published in serial form in 1870. Like many of his other novels it has a complex plot and tackles social issues, in this case the then-lax state of the marriage laws, particularly in Scotland and Ireland. As always, Collins deals carefully but frankly with human personal behavior. To avoid offending Victorian morals too greatly, much is implied rather than stated outright. Nevertheless, even dealing with such matters at all led to his novels being derided as ¿sensation fiction¿ by his critics. By today¿s standards, of course, they wouldn¿t even raise an eyebrow.In Man and Wife, the main character Anne Silvester has fallen pregnant to a muscular and handsome, but boorish man, Geoffrey Delamayn, to whom she is not married. She is working as a governess at a house in Scotland. Anne arranges to meet Delamayn secretly at a garden party and angrily demands that he fulfill his promise to marry her, that very day. He very reluctantly agrees to a secret, private marriage, knowing that a public marriage would badly affect his inheritance prospects. How is the marriage to be arranged quickly but kept quiet? Anne has a plan based on her understanding of the looseness of the marriage laws in Scotland. Naturally, of course, things go badly wrong with this plan and many complexities arise.Collins is deeply critical of the state of contemporary marriage laws, both in how loosely they were framed, and in how little power over their own lives they gave to women once they were married, even if married to a brutal man. He also uses this novel to denounce the worship of sporting heroes and the obsession with physical prowess rather than mental superiority as a primary indication of male virtue.Though not as popular as his novels The Woman in White and The Moonstone, Man and Wife received a good critical reception when it was released and was a commercial success.

The Dead Secret is Wilkie Collins¿ fourth novel. It first appeared in serial form in Charles Dickens¿ Household Words magazine during 1856. Like many of Collins¿ books, it features incidents and themes which were considered to be sensational at the time; in this case, sex before marriage, illegitimacy, and fraud.The novel opens with a scene at Porthgenna Tower, a mansion in Cornwall, where the lady of the house, Mrs. Treverton, is dying. On her deathbed, she tries to force her maidservant, Sarah Leeson, to swear that she will give a letter Mrs. Treverton has written to her husband, Captain Treverton, once she is dead. The letter reveals an important family secret in which Sarah is deeply involved and which she consequently is desperately unwilling to pass on. Mrs. Treverton succeeds in making Sarah swear not to destroy the letter or remove it from the house, but dies before making the young woman swear to give the letter to the Captain. Sarah therefore finds a place to conceal it within the house.The rest of the novel deals with Rosamond, the Treverton¿s daughter, who grows to adulthood and marries Leonard Franklin, a young man of a well-to-do family, who is afflicted with blindness. Franklin purchases Porthgenna Tower after the Captain¿s death, and the couple plan to move into the property and renovate it. Doing so, however, means that they are likely to uncover the hidden letter concealing the family secret.While critics don¿t consider The Dead Secret to be one of Collins¿ best novels, it contains some of the same elements of mystery and suspense as The Woman in White and The Moonstone, and much of his characteristic wry humor.

The ¿Moonstone¿ of the title is a large but flawed diamond, looted from India at the time of the Mutiny by an unscrupulous British officer. Many years later, estranged from his family due to his licentious lifestyle, the officer bequeaths the diamond to his sister¿s daughter, Rachel Verrinder, to be given to her on her 18th birthday. Due to the ill-omens surrounding the gem, this may have been an act of revenge rather than reconciliation. The diamond, it appears, was taken from a statue of the Moon God worshipped by a Hindu cult, and it has long been sought by a group of Brahmins determined to return it to their temple.On the night of the birthday party the gem mysteriously disappears from Rachel¿s room. While the first suspicions naturally fall on these Indians, they are eventually exculpated. Rachel becomes hysterical and angry when questioned about the theft and refuses to assist the police. Active efforts to assist them are taken up by Rachel¿s cousin (and sweetheart) Franklin Blake. These efforts simply drive Rachel into further fury, and she becomes completely estranged from him. Suspicion thus falls on her as having some secret reason for wishing to raise money on the diamond. The novel proceeds to slowly uncover the mysteries involved.Published in 1868, The Moonstone is often considered as one of the precursors of the modern detective novel, though this is a label which would not have been used by its author Wilkie Collins and his contemporaries. While it is true that the plot revolves around the mystery of a theft, and that it features Sergeant Cuff ¿in the Detective Force of Scotland Yard,¿ the novel is much more about character and relationships than the mere revelation of secrets. It also has a good dose of Collins¿ humour, as the story is told in large part by eccentric characters such as the old house-steward Gabriel Betteredge who regards Robinson Crusoe as an oracle; and the ultra-religious Miss Clack, determined to convert everyone to her views.Immensely popular at the time of its publication in serial form, The Moonstone is rightly considered to be one of Collins¿ best works, and remains highly regarded today.

The Woman in White tells the story of Walter Hartright, a young and impoverished drawing teacher who falls in love with his aristocratic pupil, Laura Fairlie. He cannot hope to marry her, however, and she is married off against her will to a baronet, Sir Percival Glyde, who is seeking her fortune. The terms of her marriage settlement prevent Glyde accessing her money while she lives, so together with his deceptively charming and cunning friend, Count Fosco, they hatch an unscrupulous deception to do so nonetheless. In an early 19th Century version of ¿identity theft,¿ they contrive to fake Lauräs death and confine her to a mental asylum. Their plot is eventually uncovered and exposed by Hartright with the help of Lauräs resourceful half-sister, Marian Halcombe.The Woman in White was the most popular of Wilkie Collins¿ novels in the genre then known as ¿sensation fiction.¿ It has never been out of print and is frequently included in lists of the best novels of all time. Published initially in serial form in 1859¿60, it achieved an early and remarkable following, probably because of the strength of its characters, in particular the smooth and charming but utterly wicked villain Count Fosco, and the intelligent and steadfast Marian Halcombe opposed to him.

No Name is set in England during the 1840s. It follows the fortunes of two sisters, Magdalen Vanstone and her older sister Norah. Their comfortable upper-middle-class lives are shockingly disrupted when, after the sudden deaths of their parents, they discover that they are disinherited and left without either name or fortune. The headstrong Magdalen vows to recover their inheritance, by fair means or foul. Her increasing desperation makes her vulnerable to a wily confidence trickster, Captain Wragge, who promises to assist her in return for a cut of the profits.No Name was published in serial form like many of Wilkie Collins¿ other works. They were tremendously popular in their time, with long queues forming awaiting the publication of each episode. Though not as well known as his The Woman in White and The Moonstone, No Name is their equal in boasting a gripping plot and strong women characters (a rarity in the Victorian era). Collins¿ mentor Charles Dickens is on record as considering it to be far the superior of The Woman in White.

L'abîme by Wilkie Collins a été considéré comme un travail important tout au long de l'histoire humaine, et afin de garantir que ce travail ne soit jamais perdu, nous avons pris des mesures pour assurer sa préservation en republiant ce livre dans un format contemporain pour les générations actuelles et futures. Ce livre entier a été retapé, remanié et reformaté. Étant donné que ces livres ne sont pas fabriqués à partir de copies numérisées, le texte est lisible et clair.

L'hôtel hanté by Wilkie Collins a été considéré comme un travail important tout au long de l'histoire humaine, et afin de garantir que ce travail ne soit jamais perdu, nous avons pris des mesures pour assurer sa préservation en republiant ce livre dans un format contemporain pour les générations actuelles et futures. Ce livre entier a été retapé, remanié et reformaté. Étant donné que ces livres ne sont pas fabriqués à partir de copies numérisées, le texte est lisible et clair.

Hace algunos años, se contrató a un cantero para efectuar unos arreglos en la iglesia de Stratford-upon-Avon. Mientras se ocupaba de estas reparaciones, el cantero se las arregló ¿sin levantar sospechas, pensaba él¿ para fabricar un molde del busto de Shakespeare. Sin embargo, se descubrió lo que había hecho e, inmediatamente, las autoridades, encargadas de la custodia del busto original, lo amenazaron con penas y sanciones legales muy severas, aunque no especificaron de qué delito se le acusaba. El pobre hombre estaba tan asustado por las amenazas que rápidamente empaquetó sus herramientas y, cogiendo el molde, se marchó de Stratford. Después, el cantero expuso su caso a personas con capacidad para aconsejarle, quienes le dijeron que no debía temer ningún castigo y que, si consideraba que podría venderlos, hiciera tantos moldes del busto como quisiera y los pusiera a la venta en cualquier lugar. El cantero siguió el consejo, realizó cuidadosamente sus reproducciones del busto en bloques de mármol negro y vendió un gran número de ellas no solo en Inglaterra, sino también en América. Debe añadirse que este cantero había destacado siempre por su extraordinaria veneración a Shakespeare, que llevó a tal extremo que llegó a asegurar al amigo ¿de quien luego recibí esta información¿ que él, que era viudo, ¡se habría vuelto a casar solo si hubiera conocido a una mujer que fuera descendiente directa de William Shakespeare!

Été 1829. Dans un manoir de Cornouailles, madame Treverton est mourante. Elle va laisser un mari désespéré et une petite fille, Rosamond. Elle s'adresse à sa femme de chambre, Sarah Leeson, et lui demande de remettre après sa mort une lettre à son mari. Cette lettre est lourde d'un secret et Sarah le connaît. Après le décès de madame Treverton, Sarah ne trouve pas le courage de remettre cette lettre et préfère la cacher. Avant de fuir le manoir, elle laisse une lettre pour Mr. Treverton, courrier dans lequel elle révèle l'existence du secret sans en révéler la teneur. Des années plus tard, les chemins de Rosamond et de Sarah Leeson se croisent à nouveau. Rosamond connaît l'existence du secret et le rôle de Sarah. Elle veut connaître la vérité.

My wife, in her impulsive way, forgot the formalities proper to the occasion, and kissed her at parting. At that one little act of sisterly sympathy, the fortitude which the poor creature had preserved all through the evening gave way in an instant. She burst into tears. I felt as fond of her and as sorry for her as my wife. But (unfortunately) I could not take my wife's privilege of kissing her. On our way downstairs, I found the opportunity of saying a cheering word to her husband as he accompanied us to the door. "Before I open this," I remarked, pointing to the portfolio under my arm, "my mind is made up, sir, about one thing. If I wasn't married already, I tell you this, I should envy you your wife." He pointed to the portfolio in his turn.

«Porque, desde el principio de los tiempos, las mujeres santas que confiaban en Dios se honraban sometiéndose a sus esposos; Sara obedecía a Abraham, llamándole señor, y también sus hijas y las hijas de sus hijas». Con estas conocidas palabras mi tío, el reverendo Starkweather, puso fin a la ceremonia del matrimonio según el rito de la Iglesia anglicana. Luego, cerró su libro y me miró desde el altar, con una cariñosa expresión de interés en su ancha y colorada cara. Al mismo tiempo, mi tía, la señora Starkweather, de pie junto a mí, me dio unos suaves golpecitos en el hombro y me dijo:¿¡Ya estás casada, Valeria!¿Por dónde vagaban mis pensamientos? ¿En qué se entretenía mi mente? Estaba tan confusa que me era difícil determinarlo. Me estremecí y miré al que ya era mi marido. El pobre parecía tan aturdido como yo. Creo que a los dos se nos había pasado por la cabeza la misma idea: ¿Era posible que, a pesar de la oposición de su madre a nuestra boda, fuéramos ya marido y mujer? Mi tía zanjó la cuestión con un nuevo golpecito en mi hombro.

En alguna de mis novelas anteriores me propuse establecer la influencia ejercida por las circunstancias sobre el carácter. En la presente historia he invertido el proceso. Mi meta ha sido señalar aquí la influencia ejercida por el carácter sobre las circunstancias. La conducta seguida por una muchacha ante una emergencia insospechada constituye el cimiento sobre el que he levantado esta obra. Idéntico propósito es el que me ha guiado en el manejo de los otros personajes que aparecen en estas páginas. El curso seguido por su pensamiento y su acción en medio de las circunstancias que los rodean resulta, tal como habría ocurrido muy probablemente en la vida real, unas veces correcto, otras equivocado. Acertada o falsa su conducta, no dejan en ningún instante de regir la acción de aquellas partes del relato que les incumben a cada uno, frente a cualquier evento.