13 h 10 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 glance on a London omnibus draws a young man toward a love his proud family would never accept.
Basil, the impulsive younger son of a wealthy English family, cannot forget Margaret Sherwin’s face. She is a tradesman’s daughter; his father lives by rank and family honour. Knowing the match must remain secret, Basil approaches her ambitious father, Mr Sherwin, who sets strict terms for their marriage.
In Wilkie Collins’s novel, danger takes root among shops, omnibuses and respectable houses. Mr Mannion, a quiet clerk in Sherwin’s business, watches closely and reveals little. Basil tells his own story as both confession and warning, drawing you into desire, secrecy and revenge through the eyes of a man whose passion clouds his judgment.
What you’ll discover
- A glance that consumes Follow an attraction that takes hold before Basil knows anything about the woman he wants.
- The weight of rank See how family pride and social ambition shape a marriage that must remain hidden.
- A patient, watchful presence Meet Mr Mannion, whose polite manner conceals desires he is careful not to reveal.
- A confession worth questioning Draw close to Basil’s account while noticing how little his own heart lets him see.
- Danger behind respectable doors Enter an ordinary world where secrecy, crime and passion disturb the surface of daily life.
Who will love it
For readers who love Victorian suspense, unreliable passions and the roots of the detective and sensation novel, with secret marriages, class pride and watchful villains.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A proud family and a restless son
- One glance on an omnibus changes everything
- Mr Sherwin names his terms
- A clerk who watches and waits
- Pride, class and desire as the real subjects
- A confession told by a man who cannot see
Who’s who
- BasilThe younger son of a proud family, a dreamy and impulsive young man who tells the story and stakes everything on a secret marriage.
- Margaret SherwinA young woman of a prosperous tradesman's family, whom Basil sees on an omnibus and wishes to marry.
- Mr SherwinMargaret's father, a linen draper, shrewd and ambitious, who sets the strict terms on which Basil may marry his daughter.
- Mr MannionA quiet, controlled clerk in Sherwin's business, who watches the household closely and wants more than he shows.
- ClaraBasil's sister, the one person in his family with whom he can share affection and trust.
- RalphBasil's elder brother, the heir to the family estate, whose position leaves Basil free but also unimportant.
- Basil's fatherA proud man who lives by rank and family honor, and who would never accept a tradesman's daughter.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Basil
by Wilkie Collins · 1852
One glimpse on an omnibus draws Basil toward a secret marriage that puts his proud family's honor at stake.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Basil is a novel by Wilkie Collins, published in 1852 when he was still a young writer, some years before The Woman in White and The Moonstone made his name. It is told in the first person by Basil himself, the younger son of a rich and proud English family.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A proud family and a restless son
Basil is the second son of a wealthy father whose whole life rests on family name and rank. The father believes in lineage the way other men believe in religion. The elder brother, Ralph, will inherit the estate and the honor with it, while Basil is expected to behave and to keep the family pride clean.
Basil is a quiet, dreamy young man, more given to feeling than to ambition. He loves his sister Clara, and he feels the weight of his father's cold expectations. The household is orderly on the surface, but it leaves little room for warmth or for any wish that does not fit the family code.
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What is Basil by Wilkie Collins about?
It is about a gentleman's younger son who falls in love with a linen draper's daughter and enters a secret marriage on strange terms. The story follows how pride, secrecy and a watchful clerk bring him toward ruin.
When was Basil written and is it a true story?
Collins published Basil in 1852, early in his career. It is a work of fiction, though he wanted it to feel real by setting a story of passion and crime among ordinary modern London life.
Who is Mannion in Basil?
Mannion is a clerk in Mr Sherwin's business. He is quiet, polite and watchful, and he becomes the main source of danger and tension for Basil as the story goes on.
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
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