Lady Audley's Secret

Lady Audley's Secret is a sensation novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon published in 1862. It was Braddon's most successful and well-known work. The novel has been described as "the most sensationally successful of all the sensation novels". The plot centres on "accidental bigamy" which was in literary fashion in the early 1860s. 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. Elements of the novel mirror themes of the real-life Constance Kent murder case of June 1860, which gripped the nation for years. When it was published in book format it allowed Braddon to become financially independent for the rest of her life and still enjoys widespread success and recognition as a true classic today.