{"product_id":"2940169864991","title":"Wilkie Collins: A Brief LIfe","description":"\u003cp\u003eA gripping, short biography of the extraordinary Wilkie Collins, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Moonstone\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Woman in White\u003c\/i\u003e, two early masterpieces of mystery and detection\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShort 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, \u003ci\u003eThe Moonstone\u003c\/i\u003e¿often called the first true detective novel¿and the sensational \u003ci\u003eThe Woman in White\u003c\/i\u003e, Collins produced an intriguing array of lesser-known works.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTold with Ackroyd¿s inimitable verve, this is a ravishingly entertaining life of a great storyteller, full of surprises, rich in humor and sympathetic understanding.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Blackstone Audio, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47179643683056,"sku":"2940169864991","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940169864991_p0.jpg?v=1769902009","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940169864991","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}