Lucy Graham is a simple governess who was fortunate to become the wife of her rich employer, Sir Michael. Now she uses the surname Audley and plays the role of a respectable lady of high society before demanding neighbors. But the return of Sir Michael’s nephew, Robert, may ruin the entire performance Lucy has staged. Robert begins to suspect that Lucy’s past isn’t as perfect as the newly made lady herself describes it… And all that is hidden sooner or later becomes known.
Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835–1915) is a popular Victorian-era writer who was respected by Wilkie Collins and Robert Louis Stevenson. Her best-known novel, “The Mystery of Lady Audley,” went through eight editions in three months, and later was repeatedly staged and adapted into film. The combination of mysticism, detective intrigue, and a romantic plot typical of the “sensation novel” keeps the intrigue alive until the end of the book.