The Black Robe

The Black Robe was written by English novelist Wilkie Collins. It was published in 1881 as an epistolary novel told through documents and letters.

The novel critiques the manipulative influence of Jesuit priests within upper-class British society. Its plot uses religious authority, social pressure, and competing personal accounts to build the conflict.

An epistolary novel presents its story through letters, diaries, or other written documents rather than a single continuous narrator. Collins uses that form to reveal events through different voices and perspectives.

It belongs to Collins's interest in sensation, secrecy, and institutions that shape private lives. The 1881 setting places its religious and social criticism within Victorian Britain.