William Wilkie Collins was one of the best known, best loved, and, for a time, best paid of Victorian fiction writers. He was a close friend of Charles Dickens from their meeting in March 1851 until Dickens' death in June 1870. Wilkie Collins is best known for The Woman in White, No Name, Armadale and The Moonstone. The last has been called the first modern English detective novel. Collins's works were classified at the time as "sensation novels", a genre seen nowadays as the precursor to detective and suspense fiction. He also wrote penetratingly on the plight of women and on the social and domestic issues of his time. For example, his 1854 Hide and Seek contained one of the first portrayals of a deaf character in English literature. A Rogue’s Life was first published in 1856. It is a highly diverting little read that feels like a cross between Three Men in a Boat and a Jeeves novel. It’s all written in the most jovial, humorous manner, though the tone changes in the last half of the book when things get serious. Frank Softly, a self-professed Rogue, tells the story of his escapades on the outskirts of respectability. As a young man finding his way in life, he is prevented from honest labour by the family’s high connections but hampered by their distinct lack of money. After breaking with his family, he lightheartedly takes up a variety of legal and illegal pursuits until he suddenly finds himself a captive to Dr Dulcifer… You can listen online to free English audiobook “A Rogue's Life” by Wilkie Collins on our website.
