Lady Audley's Secret
Dec. 20th, 2020 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearLady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon was apparently very popular when it was published in the 1860s, and I can see why. It kind of reminded me of Wilkie Collins, only not as grand in scope. It's mostly from the point of view of Robert Audley, a young barrister who is suspicious when his good friend George Talboys goes missing, and who embarks on a wide-ranging investigation of the circumstances, which ultimately leads him very close to home. The Lady Audley of the title is a young governess who has recently married Robert's much older uncle, and the battle between the two is very well done.
I guessed one or two of the twists and turns, but certainly not all of them, and the prose and characterisation was good enough that I didn't mind not being wholly surprised. There are several sections where information is withheld in such a way as to ratchet up the tension and that is done extremely well.
There were other places where the narrative went a bit off piste, devolving into multi-page treatises on tea-making, the evils women do to one another, the suffering of love, and certain moral dilemmas. The author did seem a bit harsh on her own gender in places and the ending, while unexpected, was perhaps a little too neat.
But overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and had never heard of it before I picked it up in a charity shop special offer. Definitely recommended to fans of nineteenth century mysteries.
I guessed one or two of the twists and turns, but certainly not all of them, and the prose and characterisation was good enough that I didn't mind not being wholly surprised. There are several sections where information is withheld in such a way as to ratchet up the tension and that is done extremely well.
There were other places where the narrative went a bit off piste, devolving into multi-page treatises on tea-making, the evils women do to one another, the suffering of love, and certain moral dilemmas. The author did seem a bit harsh on her own gender in places and the ending, while unexpected, was perhaps a little too neat.
But overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and had never heard of it before I picked it up in a charity shop special offer. Definitely recommended to fans of nineteenth century mysteries.
