 Cover of Lady Audley's Secret | |
| Author | Mary Elizabeth Braddon |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Sensation novel |
| Published | 26 May 1862 (William Tinsley) |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 3 vols., 355 |
| ISBN | 978-0-19-953724-2 |
| Preceded by | The Black Band |
| Followed by | John Marchmont's Legacy |
Lady Audley's Secret is a sensation novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon published on 26 May 1862.[1] It was Braddon's most successful and well-known novel. Critic John Sutherland (1989) described the work as "the most sensationally successful of all the sensation novels".[1] The plot centres on "accidental bigamy" which was in literary fashion in the early 1860s.[1] The plot was summarised by literary critic Elaine Showalter (1982): "Braddon's bigamous heroine deserts her child, pushes husband number one down a well, thinks about poisoning husband number two and sets fire to a hotel in which her other male acquaintances are residing".[2][3] Elements of the novel mirror themes of the real-life Constance Kent case of June 1860 which gripped the nation for years.[4] Braddon's second 'bigamy' novel, Aurora Floyd, appeared in 1863. Braddon set the story in Ingatestone Hall, Essex, inspired by a visit there.[5] There have been three silent film adaptations, one UK television version in 2000, and three minor stage adaptations.
- ^ a b c John Sutherland. "Lady Audley's Secret" in The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction, 1989.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
sutherland2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Showalter, Elaine (1977). Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Brontė to Lessing. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-0691063188.
- ^ Summerscale, Kate (2008). The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Or the murder at Road Hill House. London, England: Bloomsbury. pp. 217–18. ISBN 978-0-7475-8215-1.
- ^ "History of Ingatestone, Essex". Archived from the original on 15 November 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2013.