16 h 27 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
One strange bed, one buried family burden, one hidden crime: ordinary lives turn toward danger.
In The Queen of Hearts, Wilkie Collins gathers romantic and mysterious tales within a family circle. Three elderly brothers tell stories to keep a young guest with them. Each evening opens another door: onto London streets, the English countryside, or foreign cities where visitors face dangers they do not understand.
A Terribly Strange Bed draws a traveller toward danger in an unfamiliar house. Mad Monkton explores inheritance, family pride and the pull of the past. In Anne Rodway, a poor London needlewoman follows grief and stubborn care into a search for truth. Alongside these mysteries, love stories test duty, trust and the cost of keeping a promise.
What you’ll discover
- An evening of stories Settle into a family gathering where each new tale changes the mood.
- Danger far from home Follow travellers whose unfamiliar surroundings turn a simple visit into a source of fear.
- The past presses close Explore old family burdens, where inheritance and pride give the past a troubling hold.
- A needlewoman seeks truth Meet Anne Rodway, whose grief and stubborn care draw her into the search for truth.
- Promises under pressure Discover romances where marriage, duty and hidden truths make loyalty a difficult choice.
Who will love it
For readers who love ghost stories, mysteries and tales told by firelight, and for anyone who enjoys a warm family frame around short, varied stories with surprising endings.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Three old brothers hide in a Welsh tower
- Jessie arrives ten days early and rules the house
- A secret love leads to a plan for ten evenings
- A siege on the moor and a family's buried grief
- Dreams and ghosts bring warnings
- A shared bed and a foolish detective
- Hidden marriages cause trouble in two houses
- Gratitude and a clue in a scrap of cloth
- What the tales are really about
Who’s who
- GriffithThe youngest brother, a retired lawyer and widower, who tells the tale and secretly hopes to win Jessie for his soldier son.
- OwenThe eldest brother, a gentle former clergyman who paints violent storms and keeps a shy, loving watch over everyone.
- MorganThe middle brother, a sour retired doctor who scorns medicine and women alike, yet becomes Jessie's favorite victim.
- Jessie YelvertonGriffith's ward, nicknamed the Queen of Hearts, a spirited heiress who wants stories that grip her and cannot be managed.
- GeorgeGriffith's son, a wounded soldier in the Crimea who loves Jessie and hopes to return home in time to tell her.
- Mr. DarkA plump, ale-loving lawyer's clerk in the Plot in Private Life, clever at finding missing people and truths.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 16 h 27 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Die Herz-Dame in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Die Herz-Dame
by Wilkie Collins · 1859
Three old brothers in a Welsh tower try to keep a lively young heiress with ten nights of true stories.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What would you do if a lively young heiress arrived ten days early at your lonely tower? Three old brothers in South Wales face just that in The Queen of Hearts, a collection by Wilkie Collins.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Three old brothers hide in a Welsh tower
The book opens in The Glen Tower, a gloomy stone fortress on a lonely hillside in South Wales. Three elderly brothers live there, far from any railway or town. The youngest, Griffith, a retired lawyer and widower, tells the story, and his only son George is a soldier in the Crimea.
Owen, the eldest, is a gentle former London clergyman who paints storms, shipwrecks and earthquakes with great calm. Morgan, a retired doctor, smokes his pipe, scorns his old trade and is writing an enormous book to prove that medicine deserves no thanks. Griffith stands between them, ready to chat with either. They are used to their peace, and they like it.
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What is The Queen of Hearts by Wilkie Collins about?
It is a collection of ten tales told during ten evenings at a lonely Welsh tower, linked by a frame story. Three old brothers try to entertain a young heiress while they wait for a soldier son's return.
Why is Jessie called the Queen of Hearts?
At school she smuggled in costumes and led three friends in a midnight card quadrille, playing the Queen of Hearts. The name stuck because it fitted her charm so well.
What stories are in The Queen of Hearts?
They include the Black Cottage, Family Secret, Dream-Woman, Mad Monkton, Dead Hand, Biter Bit, Parson's Scruple, Plot in Private Life, Fauntleroy and Anne Rodway, each read by one of the brothers.
The author
Wilkie Collins
1824–1889 · English mystery novelist
Wilkie Collins was a British novelist and playwright born in London in 1824. He lived mainly in London and died there in 1889. His novels include The Woman in White (1859–1860), The Moonstone (1868), The Law and the Lady (1875), and The Black Robe (1881).
More by Wilkie Collins
All 15 booksMore like this
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