The definitive biography of Wilkie Collins: Victorian novelist, playright, author of "The Moonstone" and "The Woman in White "and owner of a secret double life.
In the spring of 1868 Wilkie Collins found himself living a nightmare that could have come straight out of one of his bestselling novels. A visitor to his comfortable London town-house would have found him propped up in bed, desperately dictating the latest chapter of his new book, "The Moonstone." Visible above the bedclothes would have been Wilkie's large, friendly face, framed by straggly whiskers, with its strange bump on the...