Nine O’ Clock (1852) is a novel by Wilkie Collins. Written in the aftermath of Antonina (1850), his successful debut, Nine O’ Clock finds the author honing the trademark sense of mystery and psychological unease that would make him a household name around the world. Recognized as an important Victorian novelist and pioneer of detective fiction, Wilkie Collins was a writer with a gift for thoughtful entertainment, stories written for a popular audience that continue to resonate with scholars and readers today. At the height of the French Revolution, a group of prisoners awaiting execution is given the chance at one last night with friends and family. Elated, they feast and drink with their loved ones, exchanging stories of the past and even cracking jokes on the infamous guillotine, the very instrument of death they will face in the morning. Despite this general sense of hopeless joy, one man, Duprat, avoids the trend toward gallows humor, refusing to speak on the subject. Pressed by
