Books with author Wilkie COLLINS

In the German spa town of Wildbad, the 'Scotchman' Mr. Neal is asked to transcribe the deathbed confession of Allan Armadale; his story concerns his murder of the man he had disinherited (also called Allan Armadale), who had subsequently married the woman he was betrothed to under false pretensions. Under Allan's instructions, the confession is left to be opened by his son once he comes of age.Nineteen years later, the son of the murdered man, also Allan Armadale, rescues a man of his own age—Ozias Midwinter. The stranger reveals himself to Reverend Decimus Brock, a friend of Allan through his late mother, as another Allan Armadale (the son of the man who committed the murder). Ozias tells Decimus of his desperate upbringing, having run away from his mother and stepfather (Mr. Neal). The Reverend promises not to disclose their relation to one another, and the young men become close companions. Ozias remains haunted by a fear that he will harm Allan as a result of their proximity, a fate warned of in his father's letter; this feeling intensifies when the pair spend a night on a shipwreck off the Isle of Man—as it turns out, the very ship on which the murder was committed. Also on the vessel, Allan has a mysterious dream involving three characters; Ozias believes that the events are a prophecy of the future.Three members of Allan's family die in mysterious circumstances, one of which was instigated in the rescue of a woman who attempted to commit suicide by drowning. As a result, Allan inherits the estate of Thorpe-Ambrose in Norfolk and relocates there with Ozias, intending to make him steward. Once there he falls in love with Eleanor (Neelie) Milroy, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Major Milroy, to whom he has rented a cottage. During this time, correspondence takes place between Maria Oldershaw and Lydia Gwilt concerning the latter's ambitions to marry Allan as a means of achieving retribution for his family's apparent wrongdoings (she was originally a maid in the service of his mother).

The third of Wilkie Collins's four great novels of the 1860s, coming after ‘The Woman in White’ and ‘No Name’ and immediately before ‘The Moonstone’, ‘Armadale’ is quintessentially a novel of its decade. It deals with the emergence of the autonomous, sexually active woman from the dichotomies of Madonna and Magdalen; with the legal tangles of the unsatisfactory marriage laws; with the perception of the growing role of scientific intrusion into the privacy of the individual psyche. Above all, it explores the divided self, and the need to acknowledge the darker side of the personality: a modern theme grafted on to a traditional melodrama, and worked out with all Collins's skill in handling a complex and exciting plot.In the end, the novel is a story of redemption that teaches that the sins of the fathers are not necessarily visited on the children, and the son of a murderer can turn out good. Collins was to take this up again later in The Legacy of Cain.‘Armadale’ was first published in serial form in Cornhill Magazine in 20 monthly instalments. The first instalment appeared in the November 1864 issue and the last in the June 1866 issue. It also appeared in Harper's New Monthly Magazine in America in serial form between December 1864 and July 1866. It first appeared in book form as a two volume literary edition in May 1866.

Armadale is a novel by Wilkie Collins, first published in 1864–66. It is the third of his four 'great novels' of the 1860s: after The Woman in White (1859–60) and No Name (1862), and before The Moonstone (1868).Armadale (Novel) first appeared as twenty serial episodes in the Cornhill Magazine between November 1864 and June 1865. It then published in two volumes by Smith, Elder in May 1865. There were minor revisions to the text, and Collins added a preface and even an explanatory appendix to cover some of the issues he wished to address in the novel.An American edition of the novel appeared as a serial in Harper’s Monthly Magazine from December 1864 to July 1865, then a one-volume edition published by Harper in 1866.Collins also produced a stage dramatisation of the story, though this was never given a live production. He wrote this to protect his copyright, because at that time there was nothing to prevent pirated versions of a story appearing on stage – unless a separate version had been written by its original author.This phenomenon of publishing in a variety of genres also illustrates the commercial enterprise of writers such as Collins and his friend Charles Dickens. They were keen to exploit all possible versions of their works – as newspaper and magazine serials, in volume form as novels, and as stage productions. This is not unlike contemporary dramas which may appear as television serials, cinema movies, novelizations, and boxed sets of CDs, as well as in downloadable digital formats.

Armadale (1866) by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century semi-epistolary novel. Some chapters consist of letters between the various characters, while other chapters record the events as the characters perceive them.The novel has a convoluted plot about two distant cousins both named Allan Armadale. The father of one had murdered the father of the other (the two fathers are also named Allan Armadale). The story starts with a deathbed confession by the murderer in the form of a letter to be given to his baby son when he grows up. Many years are skipped over. The son, mistreated at home, runs away from his mother and stepfather, and takes up a wandering life under the assumed name of Ozias Midwinter. He becomes a companion to the other Allan Armadale, who throughout the novel never discovers the relationship. But Ozias is constantly haunted by feeling that he might harm Allan, first after he reads the letter left for him, and then again after they spend the night on a shipwreck off the Isle of Man--the ship turning out to be the same on which the old murder took place (the murderer locked his victim in a cabin as the boat filled with water). On the boat, Allan has a mysterious dream involving three characters. This dream fills Ozias with foreboding, its three scenes becoming fulfilled in the course of the novel.

ARMADALE (illustrated) completed edition with vintage and classic illustrationsBy WILKIE COLLINS★★★★ Armadale is a novel by Wilkie Collins, first published in 1864–66. It is the third of his four 'great novels' of the 1860s: after The Woman in White (1859–60) and No Name (1862), and before The Moonstone (1868).★★★★♥♥♥♥ Armadale first appeared as a serialisation in the Cornhill Magazine, issued in twenty monthly instalments from November 1864 to June 1866. It was serialised almost concurrently in the United States, appearing in Harper's New Monthly Magazine between December 1864 and July 1866. It first appeared in book form as a two volume literary edition in May 1866. ♥♥♥♥• In the German spa town of Wildbad, the 'Scotchman' Mr. Neal is asked to transcribe the deathbed confession of Allan Armadale; his story concerns his murder of the man he had disinherited (also called Allan Armadale), who had subsequently married the woman he was betrothed to under false pretensions. Under Allan's instructions, the confession is left to be opened by his son once he comes of age.• Nineteen years later, the son of the murdered man, also Allan Armadale, rescues a man of his own age—Ozias Midwinter. The stranger reveals himself to Reverend Decimus Brock, a friend of Allan through his late mother, as another Allan Armadale (the son of the man who committed the murder). Ozias tells Decimus of his desperate upbringing, having run away from his mother and stepfather (Mr. Neal). The Reverend promises not to disclose their relation to one another, and the young men become close companions. Ozias remains haunted by a fear that he will harm Allan as a result of their proximity, a fate warned of in his father's letter; this feeling intensifies when the pair spend a night on a shipwreck off the Isle of Man—as it turns out, the very ship on which the murder was committed. Also on the vessel, Allan has a mysterious dream involving three characters; Ozias believes that the events are a prophecy of the future.• Three members of Allan's family die in mysterious circumstances, one of which was instigated in the rescue of a woman who attempted to commit suicide by drowning. As a result, Allan inherits the estate of Thorpe-Ambrose in Norfolk and relocates there with Ozias, intending to make him steward. Once there he falls in love with Eleanor (Neelie) Milroy, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Major Milroy, to whom he has rented a cottage. During this time, correspondence takes place between Maria Oldershaw and Lydia Gwilt concerning the latter's ambitions to marry Allan as a means of achieving retribution for his family's apparent wrongdoings (she was originally a maid in the service of his mother).