Basil cover art

Basil

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Basil

By: Wilkie Collins
Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.99

Buy Now for £15.99

About this listen

Appearing in 1852, Basil was Wilkie Collins’s second published novel. The eponymous narrator is emotionally torn between two women: Margaret Sherwin and his sister Clara. His marriage to Margaret, a draper’s sexually precocious daughter, is to remain secret and unconsummated for the first year, as agreed with her father.

Anticipating Collins’s later sensation novels, the plot involves betrayal, insanity and death, with a thrilling conclusion set among the cliffs and whirlpools near Land’s End. The book was received with shock upon its publication, most especially due to its treatment of adultery.

Here Basil is read by the prolific and popular narrator Nicholas Boulton.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2022 Naxos AudioBooks UK Ltd. Classics Infidelity
All stars
Most relevant
Hadn't 'read' (heard) Wilkie Collins' work until I happened to decide to read Man and Wife, and I was hooked! Basil is another such absorbing story; hard to stop listening as you can't wait to find out what happens. Excellent narration too.

Masterful storytelling

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A very enjoyable listen. I was hooked from beginning to end. Recommended to all Wilkie Collins fans.

A great thriller

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.