Mary Braddon’s novel was published in the year 1862. The blurb calls it a disturbing exploration of the dark side of respectable Victorian society. Helen Maldon, Lucy Graham and then Lady Audley is the principal character of the novel. As her transformation from one figure to another takes place she works towards erasing her life of poverty and poor means into a life of wealth, grandeur and respectability. Helen is the daughter of a poor Navy man, gifted with exquisite beauty. When George Talboys, a commissioned officer marries her in spite of his strict and censorious father’s orders, she nurtures a hope of being rescued out of her poverty. But George’s poor income and lack of support from his father along with the permanent support to be given to Mr Maldon her father leave her again in the throes of misery and despair. When George in a moment of utter desolation, leaves her without notice to go to Australia for gold digging, she leaves her child to the care of her father and deserts home assuming the name of Lucy Graham. She trains to be a Governess and joins the family of Dr Dawson in Essex. She is liked and appreciated for her manners, gentleness, beauty and work. Sir Audley, the widowed owner of Audley court, the most beautiful and courtly mansion in the parts, professes love to the young and bewitching Lucy. They are married and she becomes Lady Audley. By a cunning scheme, she plots the death of Helen Valdon (who has anyway disappeared) when she knows that George is coming back after finding gold and becoming a rich man.
A distraught George who is the friend of Robert Audley, Sir Michael’s nephew discovers that his wife is alive and assumed another name when he visits the Audley court as Robert’s friend. In the altercation and George’s vow to reveal her hoax, he is pushed into an old well by my Lady and murdered. The sudden disappearance of George who has been irksome and embittered ever since his arrival in Essex is a mystery for Robert and he embarks on unraveling the source of the mystery. Secretly he prays for his Uncle’s prestige and name to be unspoiled, suspecting the role of Lady Audley as one fact after another points to the inevitable.
Braddon’s novel is an exploration into the many myths that dominate literary discourse; Lady Audley is an exquisite beauty whose yellow curls and blue eyes can bewitch anyone, Sir Audley’s choice of Lucy for his wife satisfies his idea of exclusiveness which beauty can bestow on Lucy if not her social position. He treats her more or less like a rare doll, to be petted and pampered. Robert is the rich but idle Victorian young man who enjoys his docile life and his pipes. He is dragged into the mire drawn by Helen Valdon and as he assumes the role of the unwilling detective, he discovers the horrors that can be perpetrated by a beauty with brains.
As the truth gets unfolded by corroboration from various sources, Lady Audley lets down the façade and submits herself to punishment. She is left in the care of a dignified asylum in Belgium. It is very important to note that even in her Belgian home she is given the name of Ms Taylor, to shield the honor of Sir Audley, which is her fourth name in the novel. Later it is revealed that George has escaped death and left England for New-York. There are many themes that are played out in the novel and have a significant bearing on the narrative force employed by the novelist; Insanity or madness, perceptions of femininity, desertion, double identity, class divide, intrigue and disguise are some of the principal themes. Featuring one of the great villainesses of 19th century literature, Lady Audley’s Secret is an extraordinary novel and in some ways a precursor of certain themes in the fiction of the latter years. (To be continued)