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Audiobook edition · 8 h 8 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does revenge cost when the wrong itself is impossible to forget?
In The Malefactor, E. Phillips Oppenheim brings betrayal, guilt and payback into a brisk mystery and crime novel. This is a story of wrongs done and wrongs held onto, where the desire to settle a score carries a cost of its own.
The world is Edwardian: rank matters, money commands confidence, and scandal is something to fear. Men and women live by strict codes of honor. Against that background, the book explores broken trust and revenge, asking you to weigh the hurt behind a grievance against the price of holding it close.
What you’ll discover
- The weight of betrayal Explore a story where wrongs linger, and broken trust gives payback its pull.
- Revenge and its price Look beyond the promise of satisfaction to the cost of holding onto a wrong.
- A world of rank Enter an Edwardian society shaped by strict ranks, faith in money and fear of scandal.
- Codes of honor Meet a social world whose rules shape how men and women live.
- A briskly moving tale Follow Oppenheim into a plot that keeps guilt and payback close at hand.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy Edwardian society stories and plots of revenge and reckoning will love this novel of a cold character whose mask may crack.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A lie sends Wingrave to prison
- Wingrave makes cruelty his purpose
- Juliet interrupts the language of hatred
- Ruth turns fear into violence
- A financial victory leaves a mystery
- Revenge enters the drawing room
- Juliet discovers her hidden guardian
- Watchers shape the story we receive
- Hatred may not silence the heart
Who’s who
- Wingrave SetonA rich man freed after ten years in prison who vows to make the world pay for the lie that sent him there.
- Walter AynesworthA young writer who becomes Wingrave's secretary to study him and hopes to see a kind act.
- Lady Ruth BarringtonA brilliant society hostess who once swore Wingrave's freedom away and now fears and fascinates him.
- Lumley BarringtonA rising barrister and politician, devoted to his wife and willing to do anything to protect his career.
- Juliet LundyAn orphaned organist's daughter who loves Tredowen, grows into a painter and wants to earn her own way.
- The Marchioness of WestchesterA famed beauty of London society who takes an interest in the rich Mr. Wingrave.
- Mr. PengarthA gentle Cornish lawyer who keeps Wingrave's secret and cares for Juliet.
- LovellA war correspondent who tells the tale of Wingrave's trial on his last evening in London.
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The Malefactor
by E. Phillips Oppenheim · 1906
A man freed after ten years in prison hires a secretary and sets out to make his enemies suffer.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“I am a dead man.”
In short
What would you do if a lie took ten years of your life? In The Malefactor, a man walks out of prison into a London spring with a fortune, a grudge and a plan.
The Malefactor at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 40 min3 h 40 min fast, 5 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 66,600 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1906by E. Phillips Oppenheim
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Friend Tells a Story Before Sailing
The book opens in a London club on the last evening before a war correspondent named Lovell sails for the Far East. A young writer named Walter Aynesworth complains that city life has turned everyone into automatons. Lovell tells him to look closer to home and uses his last ten minutes to tell a story.
Thirteen years earlier, two young men, Wingrave and Lumley, share a hunting lodge. Both fall for Ruth, the wife of the master of the hounds. Lumley, wild with jealousy, fetches her husband, Sir William. Voices rise, a heavy fall is heard, and Sir William is found senseless beside a torn check. He dies days later.
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Details
- First published
- 1906
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 15 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Oppenheim, E. Phillips. The Malefactor. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-malefactor.
Oppenheim, E. P. (2026). The malefactor. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-malefactor (Original work published 1906)
Oppenheim, E. Phillips. The Malefactor. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-malefactor.
@book{oppenheim2026malefactor,
author = {Oppenheim, E. Phillips},
title = {The Malefactor},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-malefactor},
note = {First published 1906}
}
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What is The Malefactor about?
It follows Wingrave, a man released after ten years in prison following a trial marked by false testimony. He returns rich and vows to make his enemies suffer, while his young secretary watches to see whether he will keep his word.
Who is Lady Ruth in The Malefactor?
Lady Ruth Barrington is the society hostess whose false testimony sent Wingrave to prison. She later marries Lumley Barrington, and she fears Wingrave because he holds her old love letters.
Who is Mr. Wingrave from America?
It is the name Sir Wingrave Seton takes when he returns to London as a millionaire. He wants to enter society unrecognized, so he presents himself as an American with letters of introduction.
The author
E. Phillips Oppenheim
1866–1946 · English thriller novelist
Edward Phillips Oppenheim was an English novelist, born in London in 1866. He lived in Leicester and later on Guernsey, where he died in 1946. He wrote novels and short stories, including The Yellow Crayon (1903), The Zeppelin’s Passenger (1918), and The Great Impersonation (1920).
“I am a dead man.”
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