Lady Audley's Secret

George Talboys returns to England after three years in the Australian gold fields, rich and eager to see his young wife, only to read her death notice in a newspaper. His friend Robert Audley, an idle young barrister, takes him to stay with his uncle, Sir Michael Audley, who has just married a beautiful, golden-haired governess, Lucy. Lady Audley avoids meeting George, and then George vanishes. Robert, determined to find out what happened to his friend, begins to suspect that his charming new aunt has a terrible secret.

Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835–1915) published the novel in 1862, and it was one of the great best sellers of the century, the classic 'sensation novel' of crime and secrets behind respectable doors, with a heroine who is far from a passive victim. Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White began the fashion.