One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1994 "[Collins] clearly relished performing his life, one minute as the well-known author Wilkie Collins, the next as 'Mr. William Dawson' holidaying in Ramsgate with Mrs. Dawson and the children... Dealing with such an extraordinary life and such extraordinary fictions, most accounts of the artistic life would have no difficulty in presenting the ... Read moreone as simply a spill-over from the other. In this admirable biography, Catherine Peters resists such reductiveness."
Stephen Gill, The Times Literary Supplement "[Collins's] oddity was increased by his addiction to opium, which he carried around with him in a silver hip-flask. 'All his life,' we learn from his present biographer, he was 'haunted by a second self,' by the idea that 'someone was standing behind him.' ... Catherine Peters's book is crammed with interesting details."
Peter Quennell, The Evening Standard "The first readable portrait of Collins as a human being."
Francoise Riviere, The European "A wonderful case study in Victorian morals... [Peters] offers a fascinating story, plainly told."
William St. Clair, Financial Times "As intelligent and comprehensive account of [Collins's] work as we are ever likely to have."
Claire Tomalin, Independent on Sunday Show Less