Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Mary Elizabeth Braddon was an English novelist and one of the most prominent writers of Victorian sensation fiction. She is best known for Lady Audley’s Secret (1862), a hugely successful novel of crime, secrecy, identity, and scandal. Braddon was an exceptionally prolific author, publishing more than eighty novels, including Aurora Floyd, The Doctor’s Wife, and John Marchmont’s Legacy. Her fiction frequently explores marriage, social respectability, inheritance, deception, and the hidden dangers beneath respectable Victorian life. She also worked as an editor, most notably of the literary magazine Belgravia, and continued writing throughout her long career.