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79-527: The Moonstone: A Romance by Wilkie Collins is an 1868 British epistolary novel . It is an early example of the modern detective novel , and established many of the ground rules of the modern genre. Its publication was started on 4 January 1868 and was completed on 8 August 1868. The story was serialised in Charles Dickens 's magazine All the Year Round . Collins adapted The Moonstone for

158-574: A mystery novel and early sensation novel , and for The Moonstone (1868), which established many of the ground rules of the modern detective novel and is also perhaps the earliest clear example of the police procedural genre. Born to the London painter William Collins and his wife, Harriet Geddes, he moved with them to Italy when he was twelve, living there and in France for two years, learning both Italian and French . He worked initially as

237-475: A tea merchant . After Antonina , his first novel, was published in 1850, Collins met Charles Dickens , who became his friend and mentor. Some of Collins' work appeared in Dickens' journals Household Words and All the Year Round . They also collaborated on drama and fiction. Collins gained financial stability and an international following by the 1860s. In the 1870s and 1880s, after becoming addicted to

316-592: A decade, show Collins not just as a master of his craft, but as an innovater and provocateur. These four works, which secured him an international reputation, and sold in large numbers, ensured his financial stability, and allowed him to support many others. The Woman in White was serialised in All the Year Round from November 1859 to August 1860 to great success. The novel was published in book form soon after and reached an eighth edition by November 1860. His rising success as

395-673: A friend of Wilkie's father. He disliked clerical work, but worked for the company for more than five years. Collins started writing and published his first story, "The Last Stage Coachman", in the Illuminated Magazine in August 1843. In 1844 he travelled to Paris with Charles Ward. That same year he wrote his first novel, Iolani, or Tahiti as It Was; a Romance , which was submitted to Chapman and Hall but rejected in 1845. The novel remained unpublished during his lifetime. Collins said of it: "My youthful imagination ran riot among

474-492: A genre invented by Collins and not by Poe ." The noted mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers later referred to it as "probably the very finest detective story ever written". After The Moonstone, Collins's novels contained fewer thriller elements and more social commentary. The subject matter continued to be sensational, but his popularity declined. The poet Algernon Charles Swinburne commented: "What brought good Wilkie's genius nigh perdition? / Some demon whispered—'Wilkie! have

553-459: A hypocrite. With hope of redeeming himself he returns to Yorkshire to the scene of the crime and is befriended by Mr. Ezra Jennings , the assistant of Dr. Candy, the doctor. They join together to continue the investigations and learn that Franklin was secretly given laudanum during the night of the party (by Mr. Candy, who wanted to exact vengeance on Franklin for criticising medicine); it appears that this, in addition to his anxiety about Rachel and

632-673: A large Indian diamond on her eighteenth birthday. It is a legacy from her uncle, a corrupt British army officer who served in India . The diamond is of great religious significance and extremely valuable, and three Hindu priests have dedicated their lives to recovering it. The story incorporates elements of the legendary origins of the Hope Diamond (or perhaps the Orloff Diamond or the Koh-i-Noor ). Rachel's eighteenth birthday

711-485: A mission. ' " Factors most often cited in Collins's decline have been the death of Dickens in 1870 and with it the loss of his literary mentoring, Collins's increased dependence upon laudanum, and his penchant for using his fiction to rail against social injustices . The Woman in White and The Moonstone share an unusual narrative structure, somewhat resembling an epistolary novel , in which different portions of

790-563: A moneylender. The Indian jugglers are still nearby, watching and waiting. Rachel's grief and isolation increase, especially after her mother dies, and she first accepts and then rejects a marriage proposal from her cousin Godfrey Ablewhite , a philanthropist who was also present at the birthday dinner and whose father owns the bank near Rachel's old family home. Finally Franklin Blake returns from travelling abroad and determines to solve

869-613: A painting, The Smugglers' Retreat , at the Royal Academy summer exhibition . Antonina was published by Richard Bentley in February 1850. Collins went on a walking tour of Cornwall with artist Henry Brandling in July and August 1850. He managed to complete his legal studies and was called to the bar in 1851. Though he never formally practised, he used his legal knowledge in many of his novels. An instrumental event in his career

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948-407: A substantial margin the prices paid for the vast majority of similar novels, yet the novel failed to recoup its publisher's investment. The Moonstone , published in 1868, and the last novel of what is generally regarded as the most successful decade of Collins' author's career, was, despite a somewhat cool reception from both Dickens and the critics, a significant return to form. It re-established

1027-483: A way for him to fight his illness without allowing it to keep him bedridden. His step-daughter Harriet also served as an amanuensis for several years. His last novel, Blind Love , was finished posthumously by Walter Besant. Collins died on 23 September 1889, at 65  Wimpole Street , following a paralytic stroke. He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery , West London . His headstone describes him as

1106-426: A writer allowed Collins to resign his post with All the Year Round in 1862 and focus on his novels. While planning his next novel, No Name , he continued to suffer from gout, which began to affect his eyes. Serial publication of No Name began in early 1862 and finished in 1863. By that time Collins was having difficulty controlling the amount of laudanum he was taking for his continual gout and became addicted. At

1185-400: Is also the only figure who is able to record events in his journal in real time, giving him the twin positions of both the external observer and also the voice of truth. It is because of his existence outside the typical Victorian heterosexual ideal that he is able to fulfil these roles. Although Ezra Jennings plays a crucial role in the denouement of the novel, his character is not present in

1264-539: Is celebrated with a large party at which the guests include her cousin Franklin Blake. She wears the Moonstone on her dress that evening for all to see, including some Indian jugglers who have called at the house. Later that night the diamond is stolen from Rachel's bedroom, and a period of turmoil, unhappiness, misunderstandings and ill luck ensues. Told by a series of narratives from some of the main characters,

1343-441: Is suddenly furious with Franklin Blake, with whom she has previously appeared to be enamoured, when he directs attempts to find it. Despite the efforts of Sergeant Cuff, a renowned Scotland Yard detective, the house party ends with the mystery unsolved, and the protagonists disperse. During the ensuing year there are hints that the diamond was removed from the house and may be in a London bank vault, having been pledged as surety to

1422-670: The Maida Vale academy. From 1836 to 1838, he lived with his parents in Italy and France, which made a great impression on him. He learned Italian while in Italy and began learning French, in which he would eventually become fluent. From 1838 to 1840, he attended the Reverend Cole's private boarding school in Highbury , where he was bullied. One boy forced Collins to tell him a story every night before allowing him to go to sleep. "It

1501-431: The opium which he took for his gout , the quality of his health declined and, in turn, the reception of his artistic output. Collins criticised the institution of marriage . He had relationships with two women: widow Caroline Graves – living with her for most of his life, treating her daughter as his – and the younger Martha Rudd, with whom he had three children. Collins was born at 11 New Cavendish Street , London ,

1580-420: The 1860s to be serialised in a magazine other than All the Year Round, provoked strong criticism. Reviewers found its villainess Lydia Gwilt to be doubtful, and were further provoked by Collins's typically confrontational preface. The novel was simultaneously a financial coup for its author and a comparative commercial failure: the sum paid by Cornhill for the serialisation rights was exceptional, eclipsing by

1659-437: The 1870s and 1880s. The Lighthouse was translated into French by Emile Forgues. Collins enjoyed ten years of success after publishing The Woman in White in 1859. His next novel, No Name combined social commentary – the absurdity of the law as applied to children of unmarried parents (see Illegitimacy in fiction ) – with a densely plotted revenge thriller . Armadale , the first and only one of Collins's major novels of

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1738-503: The American publication Harper's Magazine . This period was affected by several difficulties in Collins' life. His mother, Harriet Collins, died on 19 March 1868, and his presence at her bedside caused the novel to fall behind schedule. He also began to suffer a painful attack of gout, which he described in a preface to the 1871 edition as "the bitterest affliction of my life and the severest illness from which I have ever suffered". To dull

1817-466: The English novelist Sarah Burney : for example, the return of a childhood companion, the sexual symbolism of defloration implied in the crime, and the almost catatonic reactions of the heroine to it. The Moonstone introduced a number of the elements that became classic attributes of the twentieth-century detective story in novel form, as opposed to Poe's short story form. These include: Franklin Blake,

1896-482: The Indians have got there first: the claimant is dead and the stone is gone. Under the dead man's disguise is none other than Godfrey Ablewhite, who is found to have embezzled the contents of a trust fund in his care and to have been facing exposure soon after the birthday party. The mystery of what Blake did while in his drugged state is solved: he encountered Ablewhite in the passageway outside Rachel's room and gave

1975-684: The Lady , serialised in the Graphic from September to March 1875, was followed by a short novel, The Haunted Hotel , which was serialised from June to November 1878. His later novels include Jezebel's Daughter (1880), The Black Robe (1881), Heart and Science (1883), and The Evil Genius (1886). In 1884, Collins was elected vice-president of the Society of Authors, which had been founded by his friend and fellow novelist Walter Besant . The inconsistent quality of Collins's dramatic and fictional works in

2054-404: The Moonstone to him to be put back in his father's bank, from which it had been withdrawn on the morning of the party to be given to Rachel. Seeing his salvation, Ablewhite pocketed the stone instead, and pledged it as surety for a loan to save himself temporarily from insolvency. When he was murdered, he was on his way to Amsterdam to have the stone cut; it would then have been sold to replenish

2133-541: The Precious Metals (1865), Sir David Baird's autobiography and James Talboys Wheeler 's The History of India (1867). As well as this, he consulted various explorers to provide him first-hand information about Indian culture in order to increase the veracity of his book. At this early stage, the book's title was The Serpent's Eye . The final novel was serialised in the periodical All the Year Round from 4 January to 8 August 1868, as well as simultaneously in

2212-654: The RAI, the Italian National Network. It was directed by Anton Giulio Majano, who had already directed adaptations from Dickens, Thackeray, and Stevenson. In 1974, a German version, Der Monddiamant  [ de ] , was produced by Westdeutscher Rundfunk for television. In November 1977, Marvel Comics released a comic-book adaptation of the book in issue #23 of the "Marvel Classics Comics" series. A radio adaptation aired in seven thirty minute episodes on BBC Radio 4 in 1979. In 1996, The Moonstone

2291-584: The Year Round and dramatised at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End on 26 December. It enjoyed a run of 200 nights before being taken on tour. The Moonstone was serialised in All the Year Round from January to August 1868. His mother, Harriet Collins, died in that year. In 1870, Collins' novel Man and Wife was published. That year Charles Dickens died, which caused him great sadness. He said of

2370-571: The author of The Woman in White . Caroline Graves died in 1895 and was buried with Collins. Martha Rudd died in 1919. In 1858 Collins began living with Caroline Graves and her daughter Harriet. Caroline came from a humble family, having married young, had a child, and been widowed. Collins lived close to the small shop kept by Caroline, and the two may have met in the neighbourhood in the mid–1850s. He treated Harriet, whom he called Carrie, as his own daughter, and helped to provide for her education. Excepting one short separation, they lived together for

2449-475: The basis for a series of characters, culminating in Ezra Jennings. Where the whiter-than-white Godfrey Ablewhite conceals an evil core, the ugly Jennings hides by contrast a heart of gold. A liminal figure, spanning East and West, male and female - "some men are born with female constitutions - and I am one of them" - Jennings is able to use his creative sensitivity to bring the unconscious theft of

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2528-562: The beginning of 1863, he travelled with Caroline Graves to German spas and Italy for his health. In 1864, he began work on his novel Armadale , travelling in August to the Norfolk Broads and the village of Winterton-on-Sea to do research for it. It was published serially in The Cornhill Magazine in 1864–1866. His play No Thoroughfare , co-written with Dickens, was published as the 1867 Christmas number of All

2607-521: The best detective tale in the world". Graham Greene argues that The Sign of Four is derived "a little too closely" from it. It was published in 1868, later than Poe's short story mysteries " The Murders in the Rue Morgue " (1841) (which introduced the famous locked-room paradigm), " The Mystery of Marie Rogêt " (1842) and " The Purloined Letter " (1845). The plot also shows some parallels with The Hermitage (1839), an earlier murder mystery story by

2686-543: The book have different narrators, each with a distinct narrative voice. Armadale has this to a lesser extent through the correspondence between some characters. Ezra Jennings Walking with Dickens in the Lake District , Collins sprained his ankle, and was much struck by the appearance of the doctor's assistant treating him: "a startling object to look at, with his colourless face, his sunken cheeks, his wild black eyes, and his long black hair". He used him as

2765-477: The complex plot traces the subsequent efforts to explain the theft, identify the thief, trace the stone and recover it. Colonel Herncastle, an unpleasant former soldier, brings the Moonstone back with him from India where he acquired it by theft and murder during the Siege of Seringapatam . Angry at his family, who shun him, he leaves it in his will as a birthday gift to his niece Rachel, thus exposing her to attack by

2844-404: The diamond and other nervous irritations, caused him to take the diamond in a narcotic trance, to move it to a safe place. A re-enactment of the evening's events confirms this, but how the stone ended up in a London bank remains a mystery solved only a year after the birthday party when the stone is redeemed. Franklin and his allies trace the claimant to a seedy waterside inn, only to discover that

2923-404: The diamond to Rachel Verinder in his will, he is perpetuating his crime. It is only when the diamond is returned to its rightful owners that the 'curse' can be lifted. Pykett also comments that the contradictory forces of feminine passion and silence provide the conflict of the novel, "[Sergeant] Cuff is defeated by the silence of women (Rachel and Rosanna), by feminine reticence (Lady Verinder), and

3002-563: The earliest police procedural , due to the portrayal of Cuff. The social difference between Collins's two detectives is shown by their relationships with the Verinder family: Sergeant Cuff befriends Gabriel Betteredge, Lady Verinder's steward (chief servant), whereas Franklin Blake eventually marries her daughter Rachel. A number of critics have suggested that Charles Felix (pseudonym for Charles Warren Adams ), in his Notting Hill Mystery (1862–1863), first used techniques that came to define

3081-465: The failure of individual women to conform to dominant stereotypes of femininity". The book is regarded by some as the forerunner of the modern mystery novel and the suspense novel. T. S. Eliot called it "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels in a genre invented by Collins and not by Poe ," and Dorothy L. Sayers praised it as "probably the very finest detective story ever written". G. K. Chesterton calls it "probably

3160-444: The finished play to Dickens, who enthusiastically took over the production. Dickens played Aaron Gurnock, the head lightkeeper, and arranged for Clarkson Stanfield to paint the backdrop. Other parts were taken by Collins, Augustus Egg , Mark Lemon , Mary Dickens and Georgina Hogarth . The production ran for four nights at Tavistock House, from 16 June 1855, followed by a single performance on 10 July at Campden House, Kensington. It

3239-648: The first portrayals of a deaf character in English literature. As did many writers of his time, Collins first published most of his novels as serials in magazines such as Dickens's All the Year Round , and was known as a master of the form, creating just the right degree of suspense to keep his audience reading from week to week. The Lighthouse was a melodrama loosely based on Collins's 1853 short story, "Gabriel's Marriage", but set in Eddystone Lighthouse in December 1748. In May 1855, Collins sent

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3318-602: The friends' early days together, "We saw each other every day, and were as fond of each other as men could be." The Woman in White was dramatised and produced at the Olympic Theatre in October 1871. Collins's novel Poor Miss Finch was serialised in Cassell's Magazine from October to March 1872. His short novel Miss or Mrs.? was published in the 1871 Christmas number of the Graphic . His novel The New Magdalen

3397-456: The genre. The Moonstone represents Collins's only complete reprisal of the popular "multi-narration" method that he had previously used to great effect in The Woman in White . The sections by Gabriel Betteredge (steward to the Verinder household) and Miss Clack (a poor relative and religious crank) offer both humour and pathos through their contrast with the testimony of other narrators, at

3476-442: The gifted amateur, is an early example of the gentleman detective . The highly competent Sergeant Cuff, the policeman called in from Scotland Yard (whom Collins based on the real-life Inspector Jonathan Whicher who solved the murder committed by Constance Kent ), is not a member of the gentry and is unable to break Rachel Verinder's reticence about what Cuff knows is an inside job. The Moonstone has also been described as perhaps

3555-558: The last 20 years of his life Collins divided his time between Caroline, who lived with him at his home in Gloucester Place , and Martha, who was nearby. Collins was a professing Christian. Collins's works were classified at the time as sensation novels , a genre that became the precursor to detective and suspense fiction. He also wrote penetratingly on the plight of women and on the social and domestic issues of his time. For example, his 1854 Hide and Seek contained one of

3634-402: The last decade of his life was accompanied by a general decline in his health, including diminished eyesight. He was often unable to leave home and had difficulty writing. During these last years, he focused on mentoring younger writers, including the novelist Hall Caine . He also used his legal background to help protect other writers from copyright infringement of their works. His writing became

3713-434: The market value of an author whose success on the competitive Victorian literary market had been waning in the wake of his first perceived masterpiece. Viewed by many as the advent of the detective story within the tradition of the English novel, The Moonstone remains one of Collins's most acclaimed works. It was described later by T. S. Eliot as "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels... in

3792-430: The mystery. He first discovers that Rosanna Spearman's behaviour was due to her having fallen in love with him. She found evidence (a paint smear on his nightclothes) that convinced her that he was the thief and concealed it to save him, confusing the trail of evidence and throwing suspicion on herself. In despair at her inability to make him acknowledge her despite all she had done for him, she killed herself, leaving behind

3871-455: The noble savages, in scenes which caused the respectable British publisher to declare that it was impossible to put his name on the title page of such a novel." While Collins was writing this novel, his father first learned that his son would not follow him in becoming a painter. William Collins had intended his first son to become a clergyman and was disappointed in Wilkie's lack of interest in

3950-475: The north of England, was serialised in Household Words in October 1857. In 1858 Collins collaborated with Dickens and other writers on the story " A House to Let ". According to Collins's biographer Melisa Klimaszewski, The novels Collins published in the 1860s are the best and most enduring of his career. The Woman in White , No Name , Armadale , and The Moonstone , written in less than

4029-414: The pain, Collins took large amounts of laudanum, resulting in portions of the novel to be written in a drug-induced haze. He would later comment that he did not recall writing these passages. Considering the substantial role the memory-altering effects of opium have in the plot of the novel, this seems significant. The Moonstone was eventually published in book form by William Tinsley on the 16 July 1868; it

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4108-456: The plot of Dan Simmons 's novel Drood (2009). The Moonstone had a great influence on other authors of the time, and books inspired by Collins' work quickly began appearing. Charles Dickens ' The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870) also features the theme of opium addiction, as well as several Anglo-Indian characters. Anthony Trollope 's The Eustace Diamonds (1873) was written to tap into

4187-459: The plundered trust fund before the beneficiary inherited. The mystery is solved, Rachel and Franklin marry , and in an epilogue from Mr. Murthwaite, a noted adventurer, the reader learns of the restoration of the Moonstone to the place where it should be, in the forehead of the statue of the god in India. In researching the novel, Collins primarily drew on texts such as Charles William King 's The Natural History of Precious Stones and Gems and of

4266-483: The predecessor of Classics Illustrated , published in comic book format the novel in issue #30, with cover and artwork by Don Rico . The adaptation was re-published in 1960 with cover and artwork by L.B. Cole . On 15 April 1947, an adaptation of "The Moonstone" was episode #47 of the NBC radio series Favorite Story hosted by Ronald Colman . On 16 November and 23 November 1953, "The Moonstone", starring Peter Lawford,

4345-706: The profession. At his father's insistence, Collins instead entered Lincoln's Inn in 1846, to study law; his father wanted him to have a steady income. Collins showed only a slight interest in law and spent most of his time with friends and on working on a second novel, Antonina, or the Fall of Rome . After his father's death in 1847, Collins produced his first published book, Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R. A. , published in 1848. The family moved to 38 Blandford Square soon afterwards, where they used their drawing room for amateur theatricals. In 1849, Collins exhibited

4424-575: The rest of Collins's life. Collins disliked the institution of marriage, but remained dedicated to Caroline and Harriet, considering them to be his family. Caroline had wanted to marry Collins. She left him while he wrote The Moonstone when he was suffering an attack of acute gout. She married a younger man named Joseph Clow, but after two years, she returned to Collins. In 1868, Collins met Martha Rudd in Winterton-on-Sea in Norfolk, and

4503-662: The rest of his life. He was ill from April to early July. After that he stayed with Dickens in Boulogne from July to September 1853, then toured Switzerland and Italy with Dickens and Egg from October to December. Collins published Hide and Seek in June 1854. During this period Collins extended the variety of his writing, publishing articles in George Henry Lewes 's paper The Leader , short stories and essays for Bentley's Miscellany , as well as dramatic criticism and

4582-425: The same time constructing and advancing the novel's plot. The novel was Collins's last great success, coming at the end of an extraordinarily productive period in which four successive novels became bestsellers. After The Moonstone Collins wrote novels containing more overt social commentary that did not achieve the same audience. A fictionalised account of Collins's life while writing The Moonstone forms much of

4661-401: The smeared gown and a letter he did not receive at the time because of his hasty departure abroad. Now believing that Rachel suspects him of the theft on Rosanna's evidence, Franklin engineers a meeting and asks her. To his astonishment she tells him she actually saw him steal the diamond and has been protecting his reputation at the cost of her own even though she believes him to be a thief and

4740-742: The son of William Collins , a well-known Royal Academician landscape painter, and his wife, Harriet Geddes. Named after his father, he soon became known by his middle name, which honoured his godfather, the painter David Wilkie . The family moved to Pond Street , Hampstead , in 1826. In 1828 Collins's brother Charles Allston Collins was born. Between 1829 and 1830, the Collins family moved twice, first to Hampstead Square and then to Porchester Terrace , Bayswater . Wilkie and Charles received their early education from their mother at home. The Collins family were deeply religious, and Collins's mother enforced strict church attendance on her sons, which Wilkie disliked. In 1835, Collins began attending school at

4819-626: The staff of Household Words in October 1856. In 1856–57 he collaborated closely with Dickens on a play, The Frozen Deep , first performed in Tavistock . Collins's novel The Dead Secret was serialised in Household Words from January to June 1857, before being published in volume form by Bradbury and Evans . Collins's play The Lighthouse was performed at the Olympic Theatre in August. His account, The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices, based on Dickens's and Collins's walking tour in

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4898-506: The stage in 1877. The Moonstone of the title is a diamond (not to be confused with the semi-precious moonstone gem). It has gained its name from its association with the Hindu god of the Moon , Chandra . It is protected by three hereditary guardians on the orders of Vishnu , and waxes and wanes in brilliance along with the light of the Moon. Rachel Verinder , a young English woman, inherits

4977-451: The stone back into social consciousness. As an opium-user, and a cultural figure on the margins of Victorian respectability, Jennings is the figure in the novel who comes closest to the author himself. Jennings is very depressed, believing death will be an escape and that the complete oblivion of memory is the key to happiness; and the opium which used to be successful, along with the disease he has, are fast killing him. A queer reading of

5056-405: The stone's hereditary guardians, who will stop at nothing to retrieve it. Rachel wears the stone to her birthday party, but that night it disappears from her room. Suspicion falls on three Indian jugglers who have been near the house; on Rosanna Spearman, a maidservant who begins to act oddly and who then drowns herself in a local quicksand ; and on Rachel herself, who also behaves suspiciously and

5135-531: The story in four hour-long episodes in the Classic Serial slot with Eleanor Bron as Lady Verinder, Paul Rhys as Franklin Blake, Jasmine Hyde as Rachel Verinder and Kenneth Cranham as Sergeant Cuff. In 2016, the BBC adapted the novel for a five-part afternoon TV series The Moonstone starting 31 October 2016. In December 2018, Screen14 Pictures, a team that produces fictional stories' adaption for

5214-528: The text provides the view that Ezra Jennings was intended as a homosexual character. In his journal, he recounts a possibly homoerotic interest in Franklin Blake: "What is the secret of the attraction that there is for me in this man?". As an example of the queer 'Other', he is given a unique position within the narrative as the only figure able to solve both the mystery of the Moonstone and the marriage problem between Rachel Verinder and Franklin Blake. He

5293-545: The thread of popular interest that Collins' novel caused, with the central plot revolving around the investigation of stolen jewels. A later book inspired by Wilkie Collins is Philip Pullman 's The Ruby in the Smoke (1985). The novel was made into several silent films during the first few decades of the twentieth century. A 1909 film version, The Moonstone , was produced by William Nicholas Selig , although no copies have since survived. Another silent film, The Moonstone ,

5372-555: The travel book Rambles Beyond Railways. (1851) His first play, The Lighthouse , was performed by Dickens's theatrical company at Tavistock House , in 1855. His first collection of short stories, After Dark , was published by Smith, Elder in February 1856. His novel A Rogue's Life was serialised in Household Words in March 1856. Around then, Collins began using laudanum regularly to treat his gout. He became addicted and struggled with that problem later in life. Collins joined

5451-408: The two began a liaison. She was 19 years old and from a large, poor family. A few years later, she moved to London to be closer to him. Their daughter Marian was born in 1869; their second daughter, Harriet Constance, in 1871; and their son, William Charles, in 1874. When he was with Martha, Collins assumed the name William Dawson, and she and their children used the last name of Dawson themselves. For

5530-416: The web, created a serialised web series of the novel on YouTube , Twitter , and Instagram . In April 2020, the novel was read in serialized fashion by Phoebe Judge of Criminal on her Phoebe Reads a Mystery podcast . Wilkie Collins William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist and playwright known especially for The Woman in White (1859),

5609-501: Was an introduction in March 1851 to Charles Dickens by a mutual friend, the painter Augustus Egg . They became lifelong friends and collaborators. In May of that year, Collins acted with Dickens in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's play Not So Bad As We Seem . Among the audience were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert . Collins's story " A Terribly Strange Bed ", his first contribution to Dickens's journal Household Words ,

5688-517: Was broadcast as a two-part episode of the U.S. radio drama "Suspense". In 1959, the BBC adapted the novel as a television serial starring James Hayter . In 1972 , the serial was remade , featuring Robin Ellis . This second version was aired in the United States on PBS 's Masterpiece Theatre . In 1972, an Italian TV version of the novel, entitled "La pietra di luna" was broadcast on

5767-408: Was dedicated to his mother. A major theme of the novel is the intrusion of imperialism on everyday English life. Lynn Pykett argues that "the main narrative of The Moonstone concerns the disruption of the tranquility and order of genteel English life by a colonial legacy." The events of the plot are set into motion by Colonel John Herncastle's unlawful theft of the Moonstone in India, and, in leaving

5846-424: Was directed in 1915 by Frank Hall Crane . In 1934, the book was made into a film, The Moonstone by Monogram Pictures Corporation . Adapted to the screen by Adele S. Buffington , it was directed by Reginald Barker , and starred David Manners , Charles Irwin and Phyllis Barry . On 11 March 1945, "The Moonstone" was episode number 67 of the U.S. radio series The Weird Circle . In 1946, Classic Comics ,

5925-547: Was made for television by the BBC and Carlton Television in partnership with WGBH of Boston, Massachusetts, airing again on Masterpiece Theatre . It starred Greg Wise as Franklin Blake and Keeley Hawes as Rachel Verinder. In 1998, a fifteen episode radio dramatization, with each episode lasting fifteen minutes, aired on the BBC World Service. This was written by Micheline Wandor. In 2011, BBC Radio 4 serialised

6004-512: Was published in April 1852. In May 1852 he went on tour with Dickens's company of amateur actors, again performing Not So Bad As We Seem , but with a more substantial role. Collins's novel Basil was published by Bentley in November. During the writing of Hide and Seek , in early 1853, Collins suffered what was probably his first attack of gout , a condition from which he would suffer for

6083-478: Was serialised from October 1872 to July 1873. His younger brother, Charles Allston Collins, died later in 1873 at the age of 45. Charles had married Dickens's younger daughter, Kate . In 1873–74, Collins toured the United States and Canada, giving readings of his work. The American writers he met included Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. , and Mark Twain . He began a friendship with photographer Napoleon Sarony , who took several portraits of him. His novel The Law and

6162-698: Was staged at the Royal Olympic Theatre from 10 August to 17 October 1857, as Collins's first professional production. Robson played Aaron Gurnock and George Vining read the Prologue. An American version opened at the New Theatre, New York, on 21 January 1858. There was an amateur production with Palgrave Simpson on 3 May 1865 at the Royal Bijou Theatre (Lambeth School of Art) and further revivals at Shelley's Boscombe Theatre in

6241-425: Was this brute who first awakened in me, his poor little victim, a power of which but for him I might never have been aware.... When I left school I continued story telling for my own pleasure," Collins later said. In 1840 the family moved to 85 Oxford Terrace, Bayswater . In late 1840, Collins left school at the age of nearly 17 and was apprenticed as a clerk to the firm of tea merchants Antrobus & Co, owned by

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