Collins, Wilkie: The Guilty River, v.1, 18 Jan 2008.
 

A sensational tale of obsession, abduction, poisoning and deafness.

From http://www.wilkie-collins.info

“Short novel originally published as the 1886 Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual. Written late in Collins's career, it incorporates two of the themes often featured in his work: the psychological effects of physical handicap, in this case deafness, and the love of a middle-class man for an intelligent and independent woman from a lower social stratum.”