The Black Robe [Paperback]

Wilkie Collins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2003

Father Benwell took a chair by Romayne's side. "It has been my hard duty to grieve and humiliate you," he said. "Do you bear me no ill will?" He held out his hand. Romayne took it -- as an act of justice, if not as an act of gratitude. "Can I be of any use in advising you?" Father Benwell asked. "Who can advise a man in my position?" Romayne bitterly rejoined. "I can at least suggest that you should take time to think over your position." "Time? take time? You talk as if my situation was endurable." "Everything is endurable, Romayne!" "It may be so to you, Father Benwell. Did you part with your humanity when you put on the black robe of the priest?" "I parted, my son, with those weaknesses of our humanity on which women practice. You talk of your position. I will put it before you at its worst."

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--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Wildside Press (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592244033
• ISBN-13: 978-1592244034
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,588,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Victorian prejudice, February 18, 2000

By 

Francine Smith (Denver, CO, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Black Robe (Pocket Classics) (Paperback)

This book contains tiresome characters in an anti-catholic setting. For a Wilkie Collins book, it is absolutely dreadful. Still, it is a Collins book, so at least it is well written. A man and woman marry. A Jesuit, out to get the man's property, breaks up the marriage and succeeds in making everyone miserable, including the reader. While I had heard of the prejudice against Jews and Catholics in Victorian England, it never hit home until I read this book.

4.0 out of 5 stars Victorian Soap Opera, May 8, 2011

By 

K. Wagner "Uniquely K" (Copperas Cove, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Black Robe (Kindle Edition)

I read this book on my Kindle from the Wilkie Collins Collection. Its not one of his greatest but it is a fine book. A young man suffering from an emotional shock is being manipulated by 2 groups. The first group is made up of friends who want to see him married. The second group is headed by a Catholic priest who wants to see the young man converted and return the Abbey* property back to the Church. [*Lands which were taken from the Church by Henry the VIII in the 16th century and given to the young man's family.] The 2 groups working against each other make the book humorous in the beginning. It only turns tragic later on with a somewhat happy ending.

It is one of Collin's shorter works and well worth reading. If this book was being written in modern times. A fictional cult would be created, but the Roman Catholic Church is useful for the plot because of its views on marriage and divorce.