Victorian writer Mary Elizabeth Braddon published Lady Audley's Secret to instant acclaim in 1862. Both a detective novel and a riveting portrayal of criminal duplicity, gender conventions and social class, Lady Audley's Secret remains a chilling page-turner.
Young governess Lucy Graham is the very picture of beauty, benevolence and grace. When she crosses paths with the village's wealthy widower, Sir Michael Audley, he is immediately smitten.
The couple marry, and Lucy's fortune and position are completely changed. Nobody really knows where she came from or where she grew up, but Lucy is now universally loved. By all except Robert, Sir Michael's nephew, who harbors a few suspicions and is determined to find out more.
What shadows might lurk in Lucy's past? Why has Robert's good friend George Talboys vanished all of a sudden, and does the new Lady Audley have something to do with it?