Wilkie Collins’s "The Dead Secret" is a gripping novel of mystery and inheritance, centered on a long-buried truth. The story unfolds in the gloomy Cornish manor of Porthgenna Tower. As she lies on her deathbed, Mrs. Treverton compels her terrified maid, Sarah Leeson, to write down a devastating secret, which she then hides in a locked room, the Myrtle Room, making Sarah swear never to reveal its contents to her husband. The secret concerns the true parentage of her daughter, Rosamund. Fifteen years later, after Rosamund has grown up believing herself to be the heiress of Porthgenna, she returns to the estate with her new husband, Leonard Frankland. Upon hearing the local legend of a hidden secret in the deserted west wing, Rosamund’s curiosity is ignited. Her determination to uncover the truth leads her to seek out the forbidden Myrtle Room, setting in motion a chain of events that threatens her happiness and her very identity. Meanwhile, Sarah Leeson, who has lived for years haunted by her promise and the weight of the secret, is drawn back to Porthgenna as the past violently collides with the present. Wilkie Collins masterfully builds suspense as the narrative shifts between perspectives, exploring the destructive power of a concealed truth and the relentless pursuit of a mystery that refuses to stay buried.

Table of Contents:

• The Dead Secret. Part 1

• The Dead Secret. Part 2

• The Dead Secret. Part 3

• The Dead Secret. Part 4

• The Dead Secret. Part 5

• The Dead Secret. Part 6

• The Dead Secret. Part 7