The old Allan Armadale confesses in writing, on his deathbed, a horrible secret that only his son should know when he comes of age. Twenty years later, this mixed-race son goes by the name Ozias Midwinter. The revelation of the secret causes enormous suffering, complicated by the involvement of a beautiful redhead with a dark past, Miss Lydia Gwilt, rebellious to any submission. This character is undoubtedly one of Wilkie Collins's greatest creations and the driving force behind a diabolical plot of greed, harassment, impersonation, and murder.
From the spa town of Wildbad to the rugged Isle of Man, from Madeira to the labyrinthine London, from the lakes of Norfolk to sunny Naples, Armadale moves from the dreamlike to the real, from the pathetic to the comic, barely giving the reader a moment’s respite.
Published in serial form between 1864 and 1866, it is the third of his major novels. Part of the narration consists of letters between various characters or excerpts from Lydia Gwilt's diary.