Wilkie Collins’ second novel. In writing it, Collins took a very different approach from his first novel, a historical romance:
Basil is his first venture into “sensation fiction.” It features themes of adultery, fraud, betrayal, and vengeance; themes certainly sensational by the standards of the early Victorian era in which it was written.
The novel begins with Basil, an aristocratic young man who sees a beautiful young woman on an omnibus, and instantly falls in love with her. Unfortunately for Basil, she’s the daughter of a mere linen-draper, and thus far beneath him in class. Nevertheless Basil pursues her and enters into an..." data-title="Книга Basil">