"This impressive, scholarly new edition brings together a wealth of supplementary material, much of which is almost unobtainable elsewhere...invaluable."

With an Introduction by Catherine Wells-Cole The flaxen-haired beauty of the child-like Lady Audley would suggest that she has no secrets. But M.E. Braddon's classic novel of sensation uncovers the truth about its heroine in a plot involving bigamy, arson and murder. It challenges assumptions about the nature of femininity and investigates the narrow divide between sanity and insanity, using as its focus one of the most fascinating of all Victorian heroines. Combining elements of the detective novel, the psychological thriller and the romance of upper class life, Lady Audley's Secret was one of the most popular and successful novels of the nineteenth century.

The flaxen-haired beauty of the child-like Lady Audley would suggest that she has no secrets. But M.E. Braddon's classic novel of sensation uncovers the truth about its heroine in a plot involving bigamy, arson and murder. It challenges assumptions about the nature of femininity and investigates the narrow divide between sanity and insanity, using as its focus one of the most fascinating of all Victorian heroines. Combining elements of the detective novel, the psychological thriller and the romance of upper class life, "Lady Audley's Secret" was one of the most popular and successful novels of the nineteenth century.

Weathering critical sarcasm, Lady Audley's Secret (1862) quickly established Mary Elizabeth Braddon as the doyen of Victorian 'sensation' fiction, sharing the honour only with Wilkie Collins.

Addictive, cunningly plotted and certainly sensational, Lady Audley's Secret draws on contemporary theories of insanity to probe mid-Victorian anxiety and the doubts that accompanied the rapid rise of consumer culture.

What is the relationship between Mary Elizabeth Braddon's artful and charming heroine and a governess, a bigamist and a lunatic? Lady Audley's secret is investigated by Robert Dudley, aristocrat turned detective, in a novel that has lost none of its power to disturb and entertain.

'She may boast, without fear of contradiction, in having temporarily succeeded in making the literature of the Kitchen the favourite reading of the Drawing room.'

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With an Introduction by Catherine Wells-Cole

2008-06-26 The Victorian Sensation Novel

Having purchased this book because it was mentioned in another, non-fiction, book that I was reading, I was hooked from the first page and had read it over a long weekend - what joy - the story was gripping and the characters believable and I even felt sorry for the "villainess" of the story. The story cracked along at a tremendous pace and kept me engaged throughout.

If you enjoy the novels of Wilkie Collins, you will really enjoy this story.