he Evil Genius: A Domestic StoryNovel by Wilkie Collins published in 1886, dedicated to William Holman Hunt, treating the related themes of divorce and child-custody. The story was ahead of its time in presenting both the wife and the mistress of an adulterous husband in a sympathetic light and concentrating the reader's attention on the plight of the child involved in the break-up of a marriage. The 'evil genius' of the title is an interfering mother-in-law. Collins unexpectedly upholds double standards in a passage added shortly before publication, claiming that a husband's adultery should not, by itself, be sufficient grounds for divorce, and ends the novel with a reconciliation and remarriage. Collins also used the plot for a dramatic version with the same title. He wrote the book and play simultaneously and traces of his method can be detected in the novel which has an unusually high proportion of dialogue. The play, tauter and in some ways more effective than the book, was never performed, though it was given a single reading for the purpose of establishing dramatic copyright.Plot SummaryAfter a traumatic childhood and youth, Sydney Westerfield is rescued from the drudgery of teaching in her aunt's school by becoming the governess of Kitty, only child of Herbert and Catherine Linley. Herbert and Sydney fall in love and matters are brought to a crisis by the meddling of Mrs Presty, Catherine Linley's mother. Sydney leaves the household but is brought back when Kitty becomes seriously ill, pining for her beloved governess. The situation deteriorates further and Catherine leaves her husband. To avoid custody of the child being given to Herbert, she goes into hiding with her mother and Kitty, obtaining a divorce under Scottish law. Kitty, however, is miserable. She misses her father and her governess - she is told her father is dead - and lacks companions because other children are not allowed to play with the child of divorced parents.Matters are further complicated by the introduction of a friend of Sydney's dead father, Captain Bennydeck, who is searching for her. He falls in love with Catherine but withdraws a proposal of marriage when he learns she is divorced. A somewhat contrived happy ending is brought about when Sydney, tormented by her guilty conscience, leaves Herbert and the Linleys are reunited by Kitty and remarry. Sydney becomes Captain Bennydeck's secretary and the reader is left with the expectation that they will marry...........William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 - 23 September 1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and short story writer, best known for The Woman in White (1859), No Name (1862), Armadale (1866) and The Moonstone (1868). The last has been called the first modern English detective novel. Born to the family of painter William Collins in London, he grew up in Italy and France, learning French and Italian. He began work as a clerk for a tea merchant. After his first novel, Antonina, appeared in 1850, he met Charles Dickens, who became a close friend and mentor. Some of Collins's works appeared first in Dickens's journals All the Year Round and Household Words and they collaborated on drama and fiction. Collins published his best known works in the 1860s, achieving financial stability and an international following. However, he began suffering from gout. Taking opium for the pain developed into an addiction. In the 1870s and 1880s the quality of his writing declined along with his health. Collins was critical of the institution of marriage: he split his time between Caroline Graves, except for a two-year separation, and his common-law wife Martha Rudd, with whom he had three children.