Lady Audley's Secret (Oxford World's Classics)
by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mary Elizabeth BraddonEditor: David Skilton
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-08-31
ISBN: 0199537240
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of Lady Audley's Secret (Oxford World's Classics)
Book Review: Lady Audley's Secret is a page turning classical gem from the pen of Mary Ann Braddon
Summary: 5 Stars
Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915) was a prolific novelist producing over eighty works during her long writing career in London. Braddon, along with the master of the genre Wilke Collins was a "sensation novelists". These novels combined elements of Gothic and detective fiction to make for popular novels. The sensation brings mystery and murder into respectable middle class homes making them shocking. Sex and unusual heroines also feature in these books.
Lady Audley's Secret is Braddon's most famous work. It was published in 1862 becoming a bestseller in all classes of British society from the very rich and literary to the very poor. The novel is still fascinating to us in the 21st century.
The Plot: Lucy Graham is a poor governess working for a doctor who catches the eye of the much older aristocrat Sir Michael Audley. Lucy is a fetching woman who possesses golden curls, a beautiful complexion and eyes as blue and deep as the ocean. Her cousin the lazy barrister Robert Audley is infatuated with Lucy disdaining the love of Alicia Audley the simple and sweet daughter of Sir Michael by h is first wife. Robert will later meet the woman of his dreams in the person of Clara Talboys the regal sister of his missing friend George.
Robert's best friend is George Talboys who has made a fortune in the mines of Australia. While on a fishing jaunt George comes up missing. The search for George and the various revelations about his relationship with Lucy Graham Audley is the fuel which drives the complex plot. Robert learns that Lucy was George's wife at which time she was known as Helen. She and George were the parents of little Georgie. Lucy fled from George to search for wealth and comfort in a rich man's home. She becomes a bigamist when she weds old Audley. When George returns to confront Lucy it is believed, by Robert, that she murdered him throwing him into an old well on the estate. Phoebe Marks and her stupid oaf of a husband Luke own a bar with money given them for the venture by Lady Audley. Why do they have a hold over her so that the fetching woman gives them money? Another mystery for Robert to solve. Who was involved in the conspiracy against George Talboys?
Is George alive or dead? Is Lucy a murderess and mad? To reveal the answer to these various questions is to spoil the reading experience for first time perusers of this excellent novel. Mrs Braddon writes in an easy to comprehend style accessible to modern readers. The book is fast paced, complex and keeps you guessing as to what will happen next. It is a true Whodunit? This is one of the greatest of the sensation novels and is a treat!
Enjoy it and enter the world of Mary Elizabeth Braddon an excellent author!
Summary of Lady Audley's Secret (Oxford World's Classics)
This Victorian bestseller, along with Braddon's other famous novel, Aurora Floyd, established her as the main rival of the master of the sensational novel, Wilkie Collins. A protest against the passive, insipid 19th-century heroine, Lady Audley was described by one critic of the time as "high-strung, full of passion, purpose, and movement." Her crime (the secret of the title) is shown to threaten the apparently respectable middle-class world of Victorian England.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
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