Lady Audley's Secret

About the book

Lady Audley's beauty and charm seem to confirm the good fortune of the household into which she has married. Robert Audley, initially an unhurried and undemanding observer of life, becomes increasingly active after the disappearance of his friend George Talboys. His inquiries connect domestic appearances with traces of a history that is difficult to recover and dangerous to interpret. Braddon makes letters, journeys, recollections, and small discrepancies work against the reassuring surface of a country house. The mystery also exposes the importance of money, marriage, and reputation in determining what choices a woman can imagine. The novel's tension grows from the possibility that the qualities society rewards may be effective disguises, and that seeking the truth can threaten the stability of people who would prefer to remain comfortably convinced.

• Identity and secrecy
• Marriage and survival
• Domestic respectability

Why read it

For a sensation novel that turns the security of a beautiful country-house world into the very thing an investigation must question.

English text