'The power that I have dreamed of all my life is mine at last!'

With its intricate plot and memorable characters, Jezebel's Daughter is reminiscent of Collins's blockbusters The Woman in White and Armadale, this suspenseful case study in villainy is set against the financial world of 1820s Frankfurt and tells the story of two widows, one of them devoted to realizing her husband's social reforms, the other equally devoted to the pursuit of her daughter's happiness.

To listen to Jason Hall, editor of the Oxford World’s Classics edition, introduce Jezebel's Daughter and Wilkie Collins's life and work, click on the links below.

The Plot

• Jason Hall outlines the plot of Wilkie Collins’s, Jezebel’s Daughter. [1:33]
  
• Collins’s friendship with Dickens and how it led to the disastrous stage play, The Red Vial; the basis for Jezebel’s Daughter. [1:43]
  
• After The Red Vial flopped, did Wilkie Collins turn his back on writing for the stage? [2:22]
  
• Jason Hall on Wilkie Collins's great success with The Woman in White and The Moonstone.  [0:47]
  

The Representation of Women in Jezebel's Daughter

• Jason Hall talks about the strong and unconventional female characters in Jezebel’s Daughter, and in Collins’s own unorthodox personal life. [2:30]
  
• Jason Hall explains why women poisoners troubled the nineteenth century audiences. [2:06]

Social Reform in Jezebel’s Daughter

• Wilkie Collins's representation of mental illness and Victorian attitudes to mental health. [1:04]
  
• Wilkie Collins, the social reformer. [1:22]

The Interview in Full

• Listen to the interview in full. [13:39]