Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins was an English novelist and playwright, born in London on 8 January 1824 and died on 23 September 1889. The son of a painter, he trained briefly in business and law before turning to writing. He became a close friend of Charles Dickens, and the two worked together on magazines and stage projects.

Collins is best remembered for his sensation novels of the 1860s and 1870s, which combine suspense, secrets, strange coincidences and carefully built plots. The Woman in White and The Moonstone are his most famous works, and The Moonstone is often called one of the first modern detective novels. He liked to tell stories through several narrators, and he often questioned the social rules of Victorian life, especially around marriage, money and the position of women. His books remain lively, clever and very readable.