{"product_id":"wilkie-collins-by-ackroyd-peter-2012","title":"Wilkie Collins by Ackroyd, Peter (2012)","description":"\u003cp\u003eAckroyd at his best -- gripping short life of the extraordinary Wilkie Collins, author of \u003cb\u003eThe Moonstone\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003cb\u003eThe Woman in White\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShort and oddly built, with a head too big for his body, extremely short-sighted, unable to stay still, dressed in colourful clothes, 'as if playing a certain part in the great general drama of life' Wilkie Collins looked distinctily strange. But he was none the less a charmer, befriended by the great, loved by children, irresistibly attractive to women -- and avidly read by generations of readers. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAckroyd follows his hero, 'the sweetest-tempered of all the Victorian novelists', from his childhood as the son of a well-known artist to his struggling beginnings as writer, his years of fame and his life-long friendship with the other great London chronicler, Charles Dickens. A true Londoner, Collins, like Dickens, was fascinated by the secrets and crimes -- the fraud, blackmail and poisonings -- that lay hidden behind the city's respectable facade. He was a fighter, never afraid to point out injustices and shams, or to tackle the establishment head on. As well as his enduring masterpieces, \u003ci\u003eThe Moonstone \u003c\/i\u003e-- often called the first true detective novel -- and the sensational \u003ci\u003eWomen in White\u003c\/i\u003e, he produced an intriguing array of lesser known works. But Collins had his own secrets: he never married, but lived for thirty years with the widowed Caroline Graves, and also had a second liaison, as 'Mr and Mrs Dawson', with a younger mistress, Martha Rudd, with whom he had three children. Both women remained devoted as illness and opium-taking took their toll: he died in 1889, in the middle of writing his last novel -- Blind Love. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTold with Peter Ackroyd's inimitable verve this is a ravishingly entertaining life of a great story-teller, full of surprises, rich in humour and sympathetic understanding.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"sb-details\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGenre:\u003c\/strong\u003e Biography \u0026amp; memoir, Literary Figures\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 2012\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 199\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Chatto \u0026amp; Windus\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780701169909\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Sell Books","offers":[{"title":"Standard Secondhand — £5.09","offer_id":48051784417457,"sku":"SB-9780701169909-C3","price":5.09,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/2669\/5345\/files\/9780701169909.jpg?v=1792187406","url":"https:\/\/sellbooks.co.uk\/products\/wilkie-collins-by-ackroyd-peter-2012","provider":"Sell Books .co.uk","version":"1.0","type":"link"}