''Blind Love'' was an unfinished novel by

Wilkie Collins William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist and playwright known especially for ''The Woman in White (novel), The Woman in White'' (1859), a mystery novel and early "sensation novel", and for ''The Moons ...

, which he left behind on his death in 1889. It was completed by historian and novelist Sir

Walter Besant Sir Walter Besant (14 August 1836 – 9 June 1901) was an English novelist and historian. William Henry Besant was his brother, and another brother, Frank, was the husband of Annie Besant. Early life and education The son of wine merchant Will ...

. Collins's novel had already begun serialization in ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...

'', even though the author had not yet completed it. (It ran from 6 July, 1889, to 28 December of that year.) When it was published in book form on 1890, the volume included Besant's preface explaining the circumstances of the collaboration. Collins had started writing the novel in 1887, when newspapers were full of stories about

Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...

violence in the wake of the previous year's defeat of the

First Irish Home Rule Bill The Government of Ireland Bill 1886, commonly known as the First Home Rule Bill, was the first major attempt made by a British government to enact a law creating home rule for part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was int ...

. Collins frequented

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is a Grade II listed public house at 145 Fleet Street, on Wine Office Court, City of London. Rebuilt shortly after the Great Fire of 1666, the pub is known for its literary associations, with its regular patrons havi ...

off London's Fleet Street and borrowed some traits for his male protagonist from

John O'Connor Power John O'Connor Power (13 February 1846 – 21 February 1919) was an Irish Fenian and a Home Rule League and Irish Parliamentary Party politician and as MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland represented Ma ...

who was also well known in the convivial tavern. Collins links the Irish Question to the Woman Question. The novel recounts the story of Lord Harry Norland, a member of a squad of political assassins; the book's heroine is Iris Henley, a bold and nonconformist Englishwoman who falls in love with the Irish Norland despite his criminal activities (the "blind love" of the title).Maria K. Bachman, "Furious Passions of the Celtic Race: Ireland, Madness, and Wilkie Collins's ''Blind Love''," in: ''Victorian Crime, Madness, and Sensation'', edited by Andrew Maunder and Grace Moore, London, Ashgate, 2004; pp. 179-94. The title was originally to have been ''Lord Harry'', the colloquial name for the devil.

References

External links

* 1889 British novels Novels by Wilkie Collins Unfinished novels {{1880s-novel-stub