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A Rogue's Life
A calculating antihero charms his way to wedded bliss and prosperity.
133 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1856
About the author
Wilkie Collins
1,971 books2,627 followersA close friend of Charles Dickens from their meeting in March 1851 until Dickens' death in June 1870, William Wilkie Collins was one of the best known, best loved, and, for a time, best paid of Victorian fiction writers. But after his death, his reputation declined as Dickens' bloomed.
Now, Collins is being given more critical and popular attention than he has received for 50 years. Most of his books are in print, and all are now in e-text. He is studied widely; new film, television, and radio versions of some of his books have been made; and all of his letters have been published. However, there is still much to be discovered about this superstar of Victorian fiction.
Born in Marylebone, London in 1824, Collins' family enrolled him at the Maida Hill Academy in 1835, but then took him to France and Italy with them between 1836 and 1838. Returning to England, Collins attended Cole's boarding school, and completed his education in 1841, after which he was apprenticed to the tea merchants Antrobus & Co. in the Strand.
In 1846, Collins became a law student at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in 1851, although he never practised. It was in 1848, a year after the death of his father, that he published his first book, 'The Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A'., to good reviews.
The 1860s saw Collins' creative high-point, and it was during this decade that he achieved fame and critical acclaim, with his four major novels, 'The Woman in White' (1860), 'No Name' (1862), 'Armadale' (1866) and 'The Moonstone' (1868). 'The Moonstone', is seen by many as the first true detective novel T. S. Eliot called it "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels ..." in a genre invented by Collins and not by Poe.
Now, Collins is being given more critical and popular attention than he has received for 50 years. Most of his books are in print, and all are now in e-text. He is studied widely; new film, television, and radio versions of some of his books have been made; and all of his letters have been published. However, there is still much to be discovered about this superstar of Victorian fiction.
Born in Marylebone, London in 1824, Collins' family enrolled him at the Maida Hill Academy in 1835, but then took him to France and Italy with them between 1836 and 1838. Returning to England, Collins attended Cole's boarding school, and completed his education in 1841, after which he was apprenticed to the tea merchants Antrobus & Co. in the Strand.
In 1846, Collins became a law student at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in 1851, although he never practised. It was in 1848, a year after the death of his father, that he published his first book, 'The Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A'., to good reviews.
The 1860s saw Collins' creative high-point, and it was during this decade that he achieved fame and critical acclaim, with his four major novels, 'The Woman in White' (1860), 'No Name' (1862), 'Armadale' (1866) and 'The Moonstone' (1868). 'The Moonstone', is seen by many as the first true detective novel T. S. Eliot called it "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels ..." in a genre invented by Collins and not by Poe.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 144 reviews
March 29, 2023
Maybe 3.5. A fun read, but certainly not his best.
April 10, 2008
One of the best things about working in a big public library is that you get the long view on things, and explore the vast backlist of great stories. This novella from 1856 is just the kind of lost treasure I love to stumble upon. It tells of the varied misadventures of one Frank Softly, the son of the good Doctor Softly and the black sheep of his family. From fame as a caricaturist to debtor’s prison to work as a forger, and on through a mounting series of glorious failures in various walks of life and amours, wandering into the shadow of a charming and villainous Doctor Dulcifer. But the real draw here behind the picaresque plot, as with its antecedent Moll Flanders, is the wry impudence of its indefatigable narrator, the perfect type of the loveable rogue. Frank is too self-possessed to be truly sardonic, but far too wily not to poke fun in prose that smiles and winks and cavorts across the page with irresistible verve. (It seems that Collins wrote the book while on holiday in Paris with his pal Charles Dickens, a thought that makes me spin with envy. Just imagine, hanging out with Dickens in Paris!) As for where Frank winds up, I’ll give you three guesses. Frank does not go softly, and the story resists any moralistic come-uppance. A sheer delight, and a great starter for folks just starting out w/ the Victorians.
January 16, 2019
This quick and easy read has a bit of everything: humor, romance, and even a bit of suspense.
January 8, 2022
Tare simpatic este protagonistul - pe de o parte, sinceritatea de care dă dovadă când își povestește peripețiile - deseori aflate la limita decenței și a legii - e dezarmantă, iar pe de altă parte, modul în care reușește să iasă din tot felul de situații neplăcute e plin de vervă și originalitate.
Tare vă recomand cartea asta dacă vreți să citiți ceva ușor, amuzant; protagonistul-narator e pur și simplu formidabil.
Tare vă recomand cartea asta dacă vreți să citiți ceva ușor, amuzant; protagonistul-narator e pur și simplu formidabil.
April 15, 2024
Moderately amusing. So far, it appears Wilkie Collins had two very good books in him, and a lot of other books that are just books. This is one of the latter. It probably could have been good, but it just wandered around and then stopped.
December 12, 2023
Entertaining relationship listening 🎶🔰
This is a free kindle e-book novella from Amazon by Wilkie Collins.
I listened 🎶 to this as part of The Victorian Rouge Megapack. It is about the personal live of Wilkie Collins and quite interesting 👀.
I would recommend this novella and author to 👍 readers of British 🏰👑 family relationships novels 👍🔰. 2023 😀👒☺😮👑🏡
This is a free kindle e-book novella from Amazon by Wilkie Collins.
I listened 🎶 to this as part of The Victorian Rouge Megapack. It is about the personal live of Wilkie Collins and quite interesting 👀.
I would recommend this novella and author to 👍 readers of British 🏰👑 family relationships novels 👍🔰. 2023 😀👒☺😮👑🏡
May 11, 2020
This is a delightful tale narrated by a rogue who is unrepentant for all his misdeeds, very much like Jonathan Wild in Henry Fielding's tale named after him. Wilkie Collins in A Rogue's Life: From His Birth To His Marriage takes us from Frank Softly's birth to his capture and sentencing for participating in a counterfeiting ring to fourteen years in Australia.
There is a crispness to Collins's style as Softly narrates how he fell in love with the daughter of the chief counterfeiter and ceased to care about anything short of eloping with her to Scotland and marrying her according to the then laws of Scotland without benefit of a minister or judge.
There is a crispness to Collins's style as Softly narrates how he fell in love with the daughter of the chief counterfeiter and ceased to care about anything short of eloping with her to Scotland and marrying her according to the then laws of Scotland without benefit of a minister or judge.
December 14, 2016
Magnífico libro. Wilkie Collins era un bribón. Amigo de parranda de otro gran bribón, Charles Dickens. Estas confesiones son geniales porque están escritas con un pulso anímico lleno de energía, elegancia y astucia. El estilo en este libro deriva del contenido. Es puro carisma. Los episodios que narra son insólitos, excesivos, geniales. Sólo en la era victoriana era posible un libro tan divertido. Para tomarle el pelo a la mojigatería se necesita primero que haya mojigatería. Es cierto que no corre tanta adrenalina en Collins como en la literatura posterior que se escribió para espantar al burgués del siglo XX. Sin embargo, en estas confesiones corre mucho humor, mucha inteligencia. Pienso que se trata de un libro sano escrito en una sociedad enferma, pero no para quejarse sino para divertirse, para seguir de parranda. Leerlo es una fiesta.
August 12, 2009
This is a charming and very readable novel written in the mid 19th century by a contemporary of Charles Darwin. Written around the time of Voltaire's Candide and Flaubert's A Sentimental Education, this novel also mixes the adventure and unexpected turns of a picaresque work with the protagonist being from a mildly upper class lineage. Like those others, A Rogue's Life trades on the main character's one foot in the noble's world and one foot in the workingman/adventurer's world to shed light on the inconsistencies and moral hazards that appear when those two spheres meet. A Rogue's Life also includes a 'lifelong' love story as well, although this one, fortunately, rewards the reader heaps more than the other works mentioned.
In the book, Frank Softly is a grandson of a somewhat well-known British lady who is the recipient of a less well-known slow denuding of her funds. As such, her grandson must keep up appearances while barely able to pay for boarding school, and is thus left without a proper career with no college and no entry fees to other clerical or ministerial work. Thus begins his life as a rogue, for in his pursuit of staying fed and sheltered he ends up bouncing through a number of jobs and positions; which course becomes soon enough not driven as much by food or shelter as by getting close to the woman he has fallen for. The story follows on to a series of jail terms, counterfeiters, 'Bow Street Runners' (police detectives), and greedy relatives. At the end of the book it seems clear why the author could achieve such success as a mystery writer as the plot is well-turned, with exotic and believable characters, and an appeal to sensibility and some insight on personalities. A fast read and neat picture into Victorian life without the stuffiness thereof.
In the book, Frank Softly is a grandson of a somewhat well-known British lady who is the recipient of a less well-known slow denuding of her funds. As such, her grandson must keep up appearances while barely able to pay for boarding school, and is thus left without a proper career with no college and no entry fees to other clerical or ministerial work. Thus begins his life as a rogue, for in his pursuit of staying fed and sheltered he ends up bouncing through a number of jobs and positions; which course becomes soon enough not driven as much by food or shelter as by getting close to the woman he has fallen for. The story follows on to a series of jail terms, counterfeiters, 'Bow Street Runners' (police detectives), and greedy relatives. At the end of the book it seems clear why the author could achieve such success as a mystery writer as the plot is well-turned, with exotic and believable characters, and an appeal to sensibility and some insight on personalities. A fast read and neat picture into Victorian life without the stuffiness thereof.
November 1, 2018
Not my very favorite work by Wilkie Collins, but overall enjoyable, and surprisingly funny at times.
March 13, 2023
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting much, but I loved this. Whimsical, not exactly overflowing with morals, weird and charming. Loved it
August 24, 2022
This was a lot of fun, I think I was smiling throughout the entire story. The scrapes of our protagonist are really artfully done. Great introduction to Wilkie Collins, I'm really thankful that ebooks provides these lesser known short works of classic authors for free. Recommend this one for something light and charming.
January 6, 2024
Not what I expected although the title pretty much tells it all. A young man who basically lives recklessly, seeking satisfaction in both legal and illegal ways, finds a goal worth pursuing. Sad, really, as a sort of glimpse of Vanity Fair” living.
December 7, 2023
A gently humorous and clean romance story with a fun ending. Well narrated by Bernard Mayes. Re-reading as I’m disappointed in modern fare. I’ll get over it! But thank God for the classics. 👌
January 19, 2022
I loved you, Rogue (and Mrs Bag)
but not as much as Captain Wragge
but not as much as Captain Wragge
June 27, 2020
"It is a bold thing to say, but nothing will ever persuade me that Society has not a sneaking kindness for a Rogue."
I really, really enjoyed this.
The first quarter of this book was surprisingly funny. Like, I didn’t know Collins had it in him. Beyond that point, it transitions into his more typical storytelling style, with a dash of the intrigue and suspense that he’s known for. The novella’s greatest strength is that Collins writes it in first-person POV, in the voice of a loveable scalawag, who begins his life in a rather aimless fashion.
"I found myself in a very absurd position of having no money to pay them, and told them all so with the frankness which is one of the best sides of my character. They received my advances toward a better understanding with a brutal incivility, and treated me soon afterward with a want of confidence which I may forgive, but can never forget."
Never fear. His elevated sense of self-importance aids him in overcoming all adversity.
"Weak and well-meaning people would have desponded under these circumstances; but your genuine Rogue is a man of elastic temperament, not easily compressible under any pressure of disaster."
I absolutely loved this character’s voice. Meanwhile, subsequent events spur him on to more purpose, and the story is tied up nicely at the end.
Wilkie Collins is a skilled storyteller, and this small volume is every bit as engaging as most of his stuff is, and funny to boot. Glad I stumbled on this little-known gem.
August 7, 2014
A slight and comical picaresque. The young rogue, Frank Softly, comes from vaguely aristocratic stock but also has relatives in the trades and a physician father. He has an exceedingly difficult time earning a living. After a stint in debtors prison, he sells caricatures and paints fake Old Masters before a buyer of one of his Rembrandts threatens a lawsuit. He falls in love with a mysterious woman and is roped into working for her father's criminal enterprise, currency counterfeiting. That story line, comprising the second half of the novella, feels stale and stupid, but Collins creates a fabulous character in Softly's grandmother, Lady Malkinshaw, whose impaired senses are constantly sending her tumbling down stairs or crashing through plate glass windows, cheating death only due to serendipitously placed baskets of laundry and the turban she wears when fully dressed. After each of these incidents she emerges robuster and healthier than ever. Collins should have written a whole novel centered on this absurd woman.
If you were studying anti-Semitism in 19th century literature you might want to include this novella. The trader in fake Old Masters for whom Softly goes to work is Mr Ishmael Pickup - "there is not the least need to describe him - he was a Jew." In "the Jew's workshop", Pickup tells Softly, "no pay, my dear, unlesh your Rembrandt ish good enough to take me in - even me, Ishmael, who dealsh in pictersh and knowsh what'sh what."
September 4, 2020
Wilkie Collins es merecidamente conocido por sus novelas de misterio de estilo detectivesco. Pero esta novela es una sátira, en ella emplea la ironía con gran maestría para burlarse de la sociedad británica de la época.
Francis desprecia la moralidad de sus parientes, así que desde su juventud se empeñará en seguir la dirección opuesta a la que su progenitor le señala. La novela podría decirse que se divide en 2 partes.
En la primera, narra las mil peripecias de un granuja que se niega a seguir el sendero que le correspondería. Francis es un bribón, pero sobre todo es un rebelde. Su talante crítico le impide acatar los usos sociales que le parecen ridículos, lo cual le convierte en un proscrito.
Hacia la mitad de la novela, nos adentramos en la segunda parte donde el joven Francis se enamorará de una misteriosa mujer que, aun sin ella saberlo, esconde un secreto y se centra más en resolver el misterio que atañe a la señorita Alicia Dulcifer. Aunque todavía incluye alguna alusión a su familia.
Wilkie Collins despliega aquí su magnífica prosa y construye un novela corta, pero muy entretenida. Una magnífica crítica de la sociedad de la época muy directa y contundente.
Francis desprecia la moralidad de sus parientes, así que desde su juventud se empeñará en seguir la dirección opuesta a la que su progenitor le señala. La novela podría decirse que se divide en 2 partes.
En la primera, narra las mil peripecias de un granuja que se niega a seguir el sendero que le correspondería. Francis es un bribón, pero sobre todo es un rebelde. Su talante crítico le impide acatar los usos sociales que le parecen ridículos, lo cual le convierte en un proscrito.
Hacia la mitad de la novela, nos adentramos en la segunda parte donde el joven Francis se enamorará de una misteriosa mujer que, aun sin ella saberlo, esconde un secreto y se centra más en resolver el misterio que atañe a la señorita Alicia Dulcifer. Aunque todavía incluye alguna alusión a su familia.
Wilkie Collins despliega aquí su magnífica prosa y construye un novela corta, pero muy entretenida. Una magnífica crítica de la sociedad de la época muy directa y contundente.
February 8, 2018
I have loved pretty much every Wilkie Collins book I've read like The Moonstone, The Woman in White, and even No Name...until this one. I mean, it wasn't bad, but compared to his other books it really didn't hold my interest. That's what I loved so much about The Woman in White in particular. The Woman in White is a long book but it was a pageturner because I was so eager to see what would happen next. A Rogue's Life was much more leisurely and at times, dare I say it, boring.
There were definitely some amusing moments and there was one rather beautiful paragraph about the transiency of strong emotions that stood out in part because it was so much better than most of the rest of the book. Luckily there are plenty more Wilkie Collins book to read and I hear many of the others are much better than this.
If you are just starting out reading Wilkie Collins, do not start here, but with one of the books I mentioned in my first sentence, as they are infinitely more entertaining!
There were definitely some amusing moments and there was one rather beautiful paragraph about the transiency of strong emotions that stood out in part because it was so much better than most of the rest of the book. Luckily there are plenty more Wilkie Collins book to read and I hear many of the others are much better than this.
If you are just starting out reading Wilkie Collins, do not start here, but with one of the books I mentioned in my first sentence, as they are infinitely more entertaining!
February 3, 2021
Meh. Repito: meh.
Las dos últimas novelas que he leído de Wilkie Collins no me han gustado demasiado, la verdad. Estoy algo decepcionada. Ésta, a pesar de ser una novela corta, se me ha hecho eterna. Por mucho que lo intentara no conseguía meterme en la historia más allá de una ligera curiosidad, muy leve, que me ha llevado a terminarla para saber qué pasaba. No pasaba nada. En fin. Tendré que seguir intentándolo. O no. A lo mejor "La mujer de blanco" era la excepción a la regla y al final resulta que este escritor no es para mí.
Qué bajón.
Las dos últimas novelas que he leído de Wilkie Collins no me han gustado demasiado, la verdad. Estoy algo decepcionada. Ésta, a pesar de ser una novela corta, se me ha hecho eterna. Por mucho que lo intentara no conseguía meterme en la historia más allá de una ligera curiosidad, muy leve, que me ha llevado a terminarla para saber qué pasaba. No pasaba nada. En fin. Tendré que seguir intentándolo. O no. A lo mejor "La mujer de blanco" era la excepción a la regla y al final resulta que este escritor no es para mí.
Qué bajón.
March 5, 2022
A no good black sheep (who isn’t really bad, just work-avoidant) has a series of (mis)adventures. He learns some lessons and falls in love and pulls some scams. When he accidentally falls in with a real criminal crew he manages to avoid the noose, but gets “transported to the antipodes.” Fortunately, a spell in Australia turns him into a respectable fellow, and his story ends, because he isn’t a rogue anymore.
Fun writing. Very Entertaining. Will not change your life. You will want to read more Wilkie Collins.
Fun writing. Very Entertaining. Will not change your life. You will want to read more Wilkie Collins.
September 9, 2020
Un librino che tutto sommato risulta di gradevole lettura e abbastanza coinvolgente. Uno stand alone come genere nella vasta produzione di Collins, vicende rocambolesche dal sapore picaresco coinvolgono lo scapestrato protagonista farcite di una verve comica che, però, ad un lettore moderno potrebbe risultare un po' naive...
March 7, 2023
Not Wilkie’s greatest work.
March 26, 2024
I have read about 5 Wilkie Collins novels, and this is definitely my least favourite. Perhaps if the narration had been of a higher standard I would have enjoyed it more ...
February 12, 2021
This was 159 pages, quick read. I read the moonstone by same author and i love wilkie collins's funny, witty and mature writing style, feels like he is talking to readers. This book's title is exactly what this book is about and last sentence of this book concludes what i wanted to write in a review. Love this author and planning to read more books by him this year:)).
April 22, 2022
This was a lot of fun and a great story!!!
September 27, 2022
A most enjoyable tale penned during the late 19th century by Wilkie Collins. Long before audiobooks!
Frank Softley is the rogue and narrator of the story of his adult life from minor gentry he received a good education and studied medicine, his father's profession, then everything takes a downturn as he tries his hand at various dubious occupations until his final demise and happier days in the antipodes.
A short tale but quite agreeable as it took me through a couple of afternoons when it rained outside. If you can like a rogue then Frank Softley could be the one.
4 stars
Frank Softley is the rogue and narrator of the story of his adult life from minor gentry he received a good education and studied medicine, his father's profession, then everything takes a downturn as he tries his hand at various dubious occupations until his final demise and happier days in the antipodes.
A short tale but quite agreeable as it took me through a couple of afternoons when it rained outside. If you can like a rogue then Frank Softley could be the one.
4 stars
March 1, 2021
I found the shenanigans the main character engaged in and the messes he found himself in to be quite humorous. It helped that this book was very cleverly written.
December 10, 2022
A very light and fun book. The tone the tale is told in and the mad energy of the protagonist are very enjoyable to read. It’s perhaps a little superficial with nothing much to say beyond the surface level events but it’s quick, fun, and engaging and that’s all you really need.
July 17, 2010
Frank Softly is a Rogue. Refusing to follow in his father's footsteps and become a doctor, he has tried out a number of different careers since leaving school – and failed at them all. However, he remains optimistic and sees each failure as an opportunity to make a fresh start. Even when he is sent to a debtors’ prison he simply asks himself, "What of that? Who am I that I should object to being in prison, when so many of the royal personages and illustrious characters of history have been there before me?"
While working as a forger of old paintings, Frank meets Alicia Dulcifer in an art gallery and immediately falls in love. Unfortunately even this relationship seems likely to fail, because Alicia is the daughter of the sinister Dr. Dulcifer – a man who lives in a house with bars on the windows, never receives visitors and conducts mysterious experiments in his laboratory. Frank becomes determined to discover Dr. Dulcifer’s secret, at all costs.
As in many Victorian novels, there's also an inheritance involved: Frank's sister Annabella will only receive her three thousand pounds if Frank outlives their grandmother Lady Malkinshaw. This leads to some amusing situations as Annabella’s greedy husband desperately tries to prevent Frank from dying!
This was one of Wilkie Collins' first books to be published (in 1856) and I could tell it was the work of a young, inexperienced writer – the plot was less developed than in his later books and the characters (apart from the Rogue himself) were less memorable. However, his enthusiasm shines through on every page, making this a fun, light-hearted read – but with plenty of suspense and excitement too. Although Frank Softly is dishonest, irresponsible, reckless – and definitely a rogue – he tells his story with so much humour and energy that you can’t help liking him.
Rather changeable this life of mine, was it not? Before I was twenty-five years of age, I had tried doctoring, caricaturing, portrait-painting, old picture-making, and Institution-managing…Surely, Shakespeare must have had me prophetically in his eye, when he wrote about 'one man in his time playing many parts'. What a character I should have made for him, if he had only been alive now!
While I don't think I would recommend this as a first introduction to his work, if you have enjoyed any of Collins' other books there's no reason why you shouldn't enjoy this one too. And the short length of this book – only 150 pages – makes it a quick, fast-paced read, so anyone who has had trouble getting into one of his longer novels may find this one easier to read.
I'm going to leave you with Wilkie's own thoughts on this novel, taken from the author's preface:
The Rogue may surely claim two merits, at least, in the eyes of the new generation – he is never serious for two moments together; and 'he doesn't take long to read'.
While working as a forger of old paintings, Frank meets Alicia Dulcifer in an art gallery and immediately falls in love. Unfortunately even this relationship seems likely to fail, because Alicia is the daughter of the sinister Dr. Dulcifer – a man who lives in a house with bars on the windows, never receives visitors and conducts mysterious experiments in his laboratory. Frank becomes determined to discover Dr. Dulcifer’s secret, at all costs.
As in many Victorian novels, there's also an inheritance involved: Frank's sister Annabella will only receive her three thousand pounds if Frank outlives their grandmother Lady Malkinshaw. This leads to some amusing situations as Annabella’s greedy husband desperately tries to prevent Frank from dying!
This was one of Wilkie Collins' first books to be published (in 1856) and I could tell it was the work of a young, inexperienced writer – the plot was less developed than in his later books and the characters (apart from the Rogue himself) were less memorable. However, his enthusiasm shines through on every page, making this a fun, light-hearted read – but with plenty of suspense and excitement too. Although Frank Softly is dishonest, irresponsible, reckless – and definitely a rogue – he tells his story with so much humour and energy that you can’t help liking him.
Rather changeable this life of mine, was it not? Before I was twenty-five years of age, I had tried doctoring, caricaturing, portrait-painting, old picture-making, and Institution-managing…Surely, Shakespeare must have had me prophetically in his eye, when he wrote about 'one man in his time playing many parts'. What a character I should have made for him, if he had only been alive now!
While I don't think I would recommend this as a first introduction to his work, if you have enjoyed any of Collins' other books there's no reason why you shouldn't enjoy this one too. And the short length of this book – only 150 pages – makes it a quick, fast-paced read, so anyone who has had trouble getting into one of his longer novels may find this one easier to read.
I'm going to leave you with Wilkie's own thoughts on this novel, taken from the author's preface:
The Rogue may surely claim two merits, at least, in the eyes of the new generation – he is never serious for two moments together; and 'he doesn't take long to read'.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 144 reviews