Aurora Floyd

Aurora Floyd (1863) is a sensation novel written by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. It is a follow-up novel to Braddon's highly popular Lady Audley's Secret (1862). The plot follows the eponymous heroine, the daughter of a marriage between a rich banker, and an actress, as she grows into sexual maturity and is embroiled in mystery and scandal. The story includes such controversial elements as bigamy, murder, and elopement. After "Lady Audley's Secret", this is considered to be one of the finest of Mary Braddon's eighty novels. Wild, beautiful young Aurora has been established in literature as a strong-minded Victorian heroine willing to defy contemporary social rules, which may explain why the novel remains popular with present day readers.