{"product_id":"wilkie-collins","title":"Wilkie Collins","description":"\u003cp\u003eShort and oddly built, with a head too big for his body, extremely short-sighted, unable to stay still, dressed in colourful clothes, Wilkie Collins looked distinctly strange. But he was none the less a charmer, befriended by the great, loved by children, irresistibly attractive to women – and avidly read by generations of readers. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePeter Ackroyd follows his hero, ‘the sweetest-tempered of all the Victorian novelists’, from his childhood as the son of a well-known artist to his struggling beginnings as a writer, his years of fame and his life-long friendship with the other great London chronicler, Charles Dickens. As well as his enduring masterpieces, \u003ci\u003eThe Moonstone\u003c\/i\u003e – often called the first true detective novel – and the sensational \u003ci\u003eThe Woman in White\u003c\/i\u003e, he produced an intriguing array of lesser-known works. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTold with Ackroyd’s inimitable verve, this is a ravishingly entertaining life of a great storyteller, full of surprises, rich in humour and sympathetic understanding.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57556858569086,"sku":"NW9780099287476","price":14.02,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9780099287476.jpg?v=1781613495","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/wilkie-collins","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}