Black Robe

Lewis Romayne is a wealthy gentleman with a dangerous secret. When the ambitious Father Benwell schemes to reclaim lost church property through Romayne's conversion to Catholicism, he calculates that the man's soul, and valuable land, can be won through careful manipulation. But the priest hasn't accounted for Stella, a mysterious woman of remarkable beauty who captures Romayne's heart and threatens to derail the entire plan. As three lives collide through letters and whispered conspiracies, each character hides a secret that could destroy them. The Black Robe (1881) is Wilkie Collins at his most devious, weaving a Victorian sensation novel that operates as both a gripping mystery and a pointed examination of religious ambition, hidden sin, and the dangerous games played in the name of faith.