Length6h 58m
About this audiobook
A gripping, short biography of the extraordinary Wilkie Collins, author of The Moonstone and The Woman in White, two early masterpieces of mystery and detection
Short and oddly built, with a head too big for his body, extremely near-sighted, unable to stay still, dressed in colorful clothes—Wilkie Collins looked distinctly strange. But he was nonetheless a charmer, befriended by the great, loved by children, irresistibly attractive to women, and avidly read by generations of readers. Peter Ackroyd 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 a writer, his years of fame, and his lifelong friendship with the other great London chronicler, Charles Dickens. In addition to his enduring masterpieces, The Moonstone—often called the first true detective novel—and the sensational The Woman in White, Collins produced an intriguing array of lesser-known works.
Told with Ackroyd’s inimitable verve, this is a ravishingly entertaining life of a great storyteller, full of surprises, rich in humor and sympathetic understanding.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.8 (1.3K)
Includes Goodreads, LibraryThing, Amazon, StoryGraph
GenreBiography and Memoir
Length6 hrs 58 mins
Narrated byGildart Jackson
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateOct 6, 2015
LanguageEnglish
Series
More from Peter Ackroyd
The Life of Thomas MorePeter Ackroyd18h 7m4.2 (5.9K)$28 · $0.00
TudorsPeter Ackroyd19h 6m4.3 (5.8K)$25
Charlie ChaplinPeter Ackroyd9h 11m3.8 (2.1K)$20
FoundationPeter Ackroyd18h 20m4.2 (7.8K)$25
RevolutionPeter Ackroyd15h 9m4.2 (1.4K)$23
DominionPeter Ackroyd14h 26m4.2 (838)$23
The Lambs of LondonPeter Ackroyd6h 49m3.2 (2.9K)$17 · $0.00
InnovationPeter Ackroyd19h 14m3.9 (362)$30
The Way of RoninTu Lam12h 9m4.9 (1.3K)$29 · $0.00
Matters of the HeartJacinta Nampijinpa Price9h 35m4.8 (359)$29 · $0.00
The StepsSylvester Stallone9h 4m4.8 (635)$29 · $0.00
How to Test Negative for StupidJohn Kennedy8h 13m4.7 (9.7K)$28 · $0.00
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m4.7 (2.8K)$24 · $0.00
Send MeMarty Skovlund, Joe Kent8h 10m4.7 (1.6K)$26 · $0.00
John Muir: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth & Letters to a Friend (Annotated)John Muir10h 13m4.7 (1.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m4.7 (3.2K)$24 · $0.00
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m4.7 (5K)$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m4.7 (4.8K)$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m4.6 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m4.6 (256.4K)$29 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (385)$20 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m4.6 (6.5K)$26 · $0.00
You may also like
Human Nature And ConductJohn Dewey9h 22m4.1 (1.8K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Six EnneadsPlotinus34h 13m4.3 (4.3K)$21 · $0.00
The Imp Of The PerverseEdgar Allan Poe16m3.9 (3.1K)$2.30
The Critique of Practical ReasonImmanuel Kant6h 30m4.1 (24.6K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Honest Truth About DishonestyDan Ariely8h 36m4.0 (20.9K)$26 · $0.00
Nicomachean EthicsAristotle8h 51m4.3 (63.3K)$1.80 · $0.00
How to Analyze People on Sight - Through the Science of Human Analysis: The Five Human Types (Annotated)Ralph Paine Benedict, Elsie Lincoln Benedict7h 28m3.6 (4.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Acquired TastesPeter Mayle4h 55m3.8 (2.5K)$20
Craftsmanship in TeachingWilliam C. Bagley7h 30m$2 · $0.00
How to Read Human NatureWilliam Walker3h 27m3.8 (215)$3.50 · $0.00
How to Make Money Flipping Collectibles - How to Find Undervalued Toys, Sets, Cards, and Limited-Edition ItemsJACK FLIPWELL6h 30m$7.80 · $0.00
Kentucky Real Estate Licensing Exam Workbook 2026/2027Marguerite Ostrander16h 8m$30
The Inner Consciousness (translated)William Walker Atkinson2h 9m3.9 (36)$4.70 · $0.00
LingerieKlaus Carl1h 14m3.2 (21)$15 · $0.00
SadomasochismHans-Jürgen Döpp56m4.1 (12)$8 · $0.00
EcstasyHans-Jürgen Döpp39m3.7 (20)$8 · $0.00
The Collected Works of Immanuel Kant (Annotated)Immanuel Kant83h 34m4.6 (115)$1.99 · $0.00
In the Shadow of the Dominance FactorElijah C. Prescott7h 18m$4.10 · $0.00
Homosexuality in ArtJames Smalls6h 57m3.7 (32)$18 · $0.00
Tea-Table TalkJerome K. Jerome2h 10m3.2 (132)$2.30