A House to Let

Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Adelaide Ann Procter

A House to Let is a novella originally published in 1858 by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell and Adelaide Anne Procter. Each of the contributors wrote a chapter (stories within a story, and in the case of Adelaide Anne Procter, as a story in verse) and the whole was edited by Dickens, making it fit together seamlessly as a whole. This novella is a composite tale of mystery and intrigue set amid the dark streets of Victorian London. It is about a house that has remained vacant for several years which as come to the notice of an elderly woman named Sophonisba. She wants to know why the house is vacant, which is what the various chapters set out to explain, through the histories of various tenants. A House of Let is a seriously underrated novella that captures the mystery and humor of a fabulous story of bygone days.

A Rogues Life

Wilkie Collins

This is a charming and highly readable novel written in the middle of the 19th century. This novel also combines the adventure and twists of a novel with a moderately upper-class protagonist. Frank sees work life as a problem, and by his 25th birthday, he has failed in medicine, portraiture, caricature, and even forgery. Disillusioned with life, he despaired of finding something to do until he met Alicia Dulcifer.

After Dark

Wilkie Collins

When Night Falls is a complex novel. Six fascinating stories, full of mystery and tension, are collected by the author into a single picture, worthy of taking its place among the most exquisite works of classic English literature. The stories consist of formal introductions to each story, including character sketches of the alleged narrators, a fictional portrait painter taking a break from sore eyes, and diary entries of the artists wife.

Antonina. or the Fall of Rome

Wilkie Collins

A romance of the fifth century, in which many of the scenes described in the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire are reset to suit the purpose of the author. Only two historical personages are introduced into the story, the Emperor Honorius, and Alaric the Goth; and these attain only a secondary importance. Among the historical incidents used are the arrival of the Goths at the gates of Rome, the Famine, the last efforts of the besieged, the Treaty of Peace, the introduction of the Dragon of Brass, and the collection of the ransom. Our heroine Antonina, a very young Roman maiden, flees her father and an amorous patrician neighbor, into the arms of a young, handsome, gentle, sympathetic Goth. This book does not show the intricacy of plot and clever construction of the authors modern society stories; but it is full of action, vivid in color, and sufficiently close to history to convey a dramatic sense of the Rome of Honorius and the closing-in of the barbarians.

Armadale

Wilkie Collins

The hero of the novel, Armadel, decides how to deceive fate, become loved and fall in love for life. The mysteries of life are the mysteries of love, which are presented to us by the main characters of the novel, and it is up to the readers to decide which characters to side with. A cry of passion or the silent restraint of love this is how the heroes of the novel behave.

Basil

Wilkie Collins

Basil, potomek arystokratycznego rodu i aspirujący pisarz, zakochuje się w dziewczynie – smagłej, ciemnookiej piękności – przypadkowo spotkanej w omnibusie. Nie mogąc liczyć na aprobatę ojca dla małżeństwa z córką kupca, poślubia dziewczynę w tajemnicy. Jednocześnie akceptuje pewien dziwaczny warunek postawiony przez teścia. Basil ryzykuje wszystko dla miłości, nie podejrzewając zdrady. Gdy nadchodzi krytyczny moment młodzieniec pozbawiony wsparcia bliskich, jednocześnie zagrożony zemstą odwiecznego wroga jego rodziny, zdaje się być zdany wyłącznie na siebie.

Basil

Wilkie Collins

A young aristocrat falls in love with a shopkeepers daughter and is forced to hide his marriage to her from his relatives because of the existing class inequality. The hero of the novel is subjected to countless trials, which lead some of the characters to a tragic end.

Bez wyjścia

Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins

Bez wyjścia to dziełko dwóch pisarzy i przyjaciół: Charlesa Dickensa oraz Wilkie Collinsa. Jest to opowieść o przyjaźni, miłości, lojalności, ale też o zdradzie, chciwości i podłości. Historia rozpoczyna się 30 listopada 1835 roku. Młoda kobieta usiłuje wyciągnąć od pracownicy przytułku dla dzieci informacje o pewnym oddanym tam chłopcu. Udaje jej się to i po kilku latach korzysta ze zdobytej wiedzy. Wydaje się, że nic nie zakłóci już szczęścia połączonych na nowo matki i syna. Los jednak jest przewrotny... Pomóc może tylko oddany przyjaciel i ukochana kobieta.