When Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s sensational detective novel, Lady Audley’s Secret, burst onto the literary scene in 1861, readers were electrified by its intricate plot, complex characters, and terrifying meditation on the dark secrets lurking within respectable Victorian homes.

Wildly popular at the time and now considered a foundational sensation novel, Lady Audley’s Secret was serialized in Robin Goodfellow, the Sixpenny Magazine and the London Journal before appearing in at least nine editions during a three-month period in 1862. Despite achieving immense success and financial security— no small feat for a woman in the 19th century— Braddon was subjected to intense scrutiny because she lived with her married publisher.

Over six sessions, we'll discuss how Braddon used a popular literary genre to critique mainstream attitudes about gender, class, and sexuality, creating one of the most widely loved works of Victorian popular fiction in the process.
Six Sessions. $255/$230. Led by Amber Pouliot