The Evil Genius

Collins' most financially successful novel, The Evil Genius, opens with a jury determining the fate of a sea captain whose ship allegedly facilitated a diamond theft. The story develops into a powerful novel of Victorian private life, including deception, adultery and divorce.

Library Journal

Released in 1886, Collins's Victorian soap opera focuses on Kitty Linley, a child whose father dies in disgrace and whose mother abandons her for another marriage. Kitty is tossed into a school where she, of course, is treated brutally. A governess is hired to raise her, but her stepfather falls for the woman, bringing yet more misery into the girl's life. Collins is always popular. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

If you think Victorian literature is quaint, you haven t read anything by Wilkie Collins. Often considered the father of the English detective novel, Collins has thrilled readers with suspenseful gothic tales such as The Woman in White and The Moonstone.