Complete Shorter Fiction

by Wilkie Collins

William Wilkie Collins, author of the perennial favourites The Moonstone and The Woman in White, friend and adviser to Charles Dickens and acclaimed as the grandfather of the modern detective story, was one of the nineteenth century's most popular authors. Indeed, Dickens described him as 'the writer who would come ahead of all the field'. He was born in London in 1824, the son of a landscape painter. After a private education and two years in Italy, he trained in the law and began to practise in 1851. However he also became friends with Charles Dickens and quickly swapped his legal wig for the quill pen of literature. He became probably the first writer in English fiction to deal with the business of crime and detection, and as a result achieved great popularity in his lifetime. Many of his novels were published in Dickens' periodicals Household Words and All the Year Round including The Woman in White and The Moonstone. In his shorter fiction, Collins retains all the skill and energy of his novels. He had a mastery of plot that even Dickens admired, and all the delicacy in drawing character that one associates with this fertile period of literature.

Genres: Fiction

925 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1995

About the author

Wilkie Collins was an English novelist and playwright, best known for The Woman in White (1860), an early sensation novel, and The Moonstone (1868), a pioneering work of detective fiction. Born to landscape painter William Collins and Harriet Geddes, he spent part of his childhood in Italy and France, learning both languages. Initially working as a tea merchant, he later studied law, though he never practiced. His literary career began with Antonina (1850), and a meeting with Charles Dickens in 1851 proved pivotal. The two became close friends and collaborators, with Collins contributing to Dickens' journals and co-writing dramatic works.
Collins' success peaked in the 1860s with novels that combined suspense with social critique, including No Name (1862), Armadale (1864), and The Moonstone, which established key elements of the modern detective story. His personal life was unconventional—he openly opposed marriage and lived with Caroline Graves and her daughter for much of his life, while also maintaining a separate relationship with Martha Rudd, with whom he had three children.
Plagued by gout, Collins became addicted to laudanum, which affected both his health and later works. Despite declining quality in his writing, he remained a respected figure, mentoring younger authors and advocating for writers' rights. He died in 1889 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. His legacy endures through his influential novels, which laid the groundwork for both sensation fiction and detective literature.

Reviews

[Reet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many stories in this looking book to comment on them all, so I will only remark on the ones that I rated 3 🌟 or above.
3 stars:
Nine O'clock: this is one of Collins' occult stories,
"the night of the 30th of June, 1793, is memorable in the prison annals of Paris, as the last night in confinement of the leaders of the famous Girondinne party in the first French revolution. On the morning of 31st, 21 deputies who represented the departments of the Gironnde, were guillotined to make way for Robespierre and the reign of terror."
As they sat talking the night before their demise, All of them wondered in what order they would be guillotined.

The Dream Woman: another occult-like story, this one deals with the ever-intrigueing subject of "marry in haste, repent at leisure." Men (and women) mistakenly pick their mates according to the call of hormones, ie, by looks. I did this, and the protagonist of the tale did it too. At least my ex-husband hasn't killed me (yet).

Anne Rodway: this is a sad story, and has to do with how desperate life can be when you are a poor woman, alone, trying to make a living when society is not allowing of women to make enough money to be single. There is a greedy landlord involved, a couple of more greedy good-for-nothings, and a man who, controlled by vice, ruins a family.

The Family Secret: here is a story that got my ire up. It's about a family: mother, father, sister, brother, and the father's brother. Both brothers are doctors. The daughter is blessed with beautiful looks, but in her adolescence develops a tumor on her neck. Her brother is sent away to live with his aunt, and as such, is kept from knowing the whole of the story of what happened in his absence. All he knows is that his sister died, and his beloved uncle has disappeared. When he asks about him, his parents get angry and forbid him to speak his uncle's name.

The Poisoned Meal: this piece was taken from the files of the French court and amplified by Collins. It takes place right before the first French revolution (1789). A teenaged girl from a poor family in Normandy leaves home to make her own way as a maid. Because she is pretty, a friend of the family who is a politician, takes a fancy to her. She declines his advances, and he decides to make her life hell, in revenge.

Fauntleroy: Another story taken from the files of history, and embellished by Collins. I liked this story of a man, a banker, who was sentenced to hang on the 30 of November, 1823, (in London) for the crime of forgery. The story starts out with a dull dinner-party that gradually warms up, thanks to the good wine at the table. The conversation gets around to sending people to"The Old Bailey" for the crime of theft. One of the company brings up the criminal Fauntleroy, and how deserving he was of hanging. A third man prevails on his companion please not to make an example of him, and he proceeds to tell the story of why he makes this strange request.

Blow Up With the Brig! This is a humorous, but also a thrilling story that the character of an old sailor tells us, the readers, about a ship voyage he made that ended by him being haunted, nearly for life, by a candle!

Memoirs of an Adopted Son: early in the year 1700, an abandoned tower (lighthouse?) near a fishing village, on the coast of Normandy, has been empty for years, when one day the village folk observe the smell of frying fish coming from it. Because this tower had been occupied by a person they called"infernal," the villagers kept away from the man they observed occupying it. He had a new-looking boat, that he would take out in the wildest gales, and come back with a huge catch of fish. One man in the village named him"Fiend Fisherman." Poulailler was the young man's name, and on his wedding day, the Fiend Fisherman showed up, and promised that his first son would be his adopted son. And so it came to be, despite all Poulailler's efforts to the contrary. This is the story of that"adopted son."






4 stars:
The Fatal Cradle: a hilarious story that Collins entertained himself writing, about two babies born during a voyage to Australia, of two very different families: one booked in a cabin, the other family part of the miserable crowd in steerage, and how their unexpected entrance into the world on the voyage had a dramatic influence on the start of their lives.

John Jago's Ghost: a young English lawyer, sick from overwork, goes for a rest at his relative's farm in rural New York. The family is fearfully dysfunctional, by the bitter jealousies seething among its members. A beautiful young cousin lies at the heart of this. Murder, lies, deceit, and a vanishing farm overseer ensue. But what a lovely ending. Some rest!

[Fred Conrad · Rating 1 out of 5]

i read Wilkie Collins when i was very young, and i'm not entirely sure this was the book that i read. at the time i read the whole thing, but didn't really care for it. in retrospect, i think i'd like to revisit.