Lady Audley's Secret

Despite harsh criticism, Lady Audley's Secret swiftly elevated Mary Elizabeth Braddon to the top rank of Victorian "sensation" literature, a distinction she shared only with Wilkie Collins. Lady Audley's Secret is a compelling, well planned, and unquestionably spectacular novel that explores mid-Victorian concerns about the explosive growth of consumer society by drawing on modern theories of insanity. What enigma surrounds the endearing heroine? In a book that hasn't lost any of its ability to upset and delight, Lady Audley's secret is probed by Robert Audley, an aristocrat turned detective.