From the publisher
William Wilkie Collins (January 8, 1824 – September 23, 1889), born in London and brother of Charles Collins, is best remembered for the Woman in White. Occasionally one of his short fantasy tales is revived, most often than not the excellant The Dream Woman. But most of his writings are little remembered, which is unfortunate because Collins combines a gift for dipicting character with an unusually brisk modern style. His pace is easier for the contemporary reader to adapt to than Dickens' earlier novels or some of Poe's overwrought grotesqueries.