Showing results by author "Mary Elizabeth Braddon" in All Categories

Welcome, dear listener, to The Mary Elizabeth Braddon Library. A chamber of secrets, a gallery of restless hearts, and a lantern-lit corridor of whispered confessions.Here, behind the drawn curtain and within the quiet walls of respectable houses, you shall find what polite society would rather leave undiscovered: hidden marriages, perilous affections, fortunes won and lost, and heroines whose beauty is rivalled only by their resolve. In these pages, love is seldom safe, innocence is not always pure, and the past is never so thoroughly buried as one might wish.

Darkness falls. The undead rise to feast on the succulent blood of the living. For years vampires have fascinated great writers of the occult such as De Maupassant, Count Stenbock, E Nesbit and EF Benson. This is The Story Circle's collection of some of their spine-chilling tales told by award-winning actors.

Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915), little known now, but a renowned writer in her time, gives us five tales of the "weird" as she might herself have said. Here we have five of her better known stories, peopled with jilted lovers, blood thirsty old ladies, and grand, old houses whose restless ancestors refuse to abandon them! The five tales: "The Cold Embrace", "The Shadow in the Corner", "At Chrighton Abbey", "Good Lady Ducayne", and "Eveline's Visitant".

A no-nonsense governess returns to the family home at Christmas to celebrate the season and an upcoming wedding but learns of a curse affecting the men of the family. 'At Chrighton Abbey' is taken from the Victorian Anthologies series featuring short stories by classic writers of the spooky, the scary and the supernatural. Guaranteed to give you the shivers, each collection includes familiar and loved creepy tales as well as those less well-known.

Brought up by a parish schoolmaster with a hidden past, Sylvia Carew dreams of a future devoid of poverty. Will she be faithful to the man she adores or will she opt for the chance at wealth and position? What lengths will she go to and when all is said and done, will she be gratified with her "happily ever after"? Romance, ambition and greed, deceit and selfishness are at the root of this sensational Victorian novel by Braddon. As usual she manages to keep us in suspense until her well constructed surprise ending.

The novel traces the return of a young Englishwoman from several years of schooling abroad, to find that her life will not take up where she thought it would. Clarissa Lovel faced not only an emotionally and financially bereft father, but her first glimpse at love - and that not from the best vantage point.

A lesser known novel by the sensational English novelist, Charlotte's Inheritance opens in Paris in a dilapidated boarding house let to students by a scarcely adequate landlady. Enter Gustave, a young provincial, arriving in Paris supposedly to study law, but in reality as the proposed husband of the dour and unattractive daughter of his sponsor. Unable to tolerate the life arranged for him, Gustave quits the boarding house but recommends it to a mysterious young English widow who approaches him for assistance. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

When beautiful young Lucy Graham accepts the hand of Sir Michael Audley, her fortune and her future look secure. But Lady Audley's past is shrouded in mystery, and Sir Michael's nephew, Robert, has vague forebodings. When Robert's good friend, George Talboys, suddenly disappears, he is determined to find him and to unearth the truth. His quest reveals a tangled story of lies and deception, crime and intrigue, whose sensational twists turn the conventional picture of Victorian womanhood on its head. Can Robert's darkest suspicions really be true?

A village in Cornwall is thrown into turmoil after a young girl falls from a train to her death. Was this an accident? Or murder? The mystery deepens when clues link the girl to a double homicide committed ten years earlier. Braddon's sensational novel takes us to the estates of aristocrats, the haunts of tabloid writers, the homes of Bohemian artists, and the dark alleyways of Paris. Braddon, one of Victorian England's best-selling novelists, is at the height of her powers in Wyllard's Weird.

Step into the world of Charlottes Inheritance, a captivating yet lesser-known novel by the brilliant English novelist. The story unfolds in a shabby boarding house in Paris, where students are managed by a rather inadequate landlady. Meet Gustave, a young provincial who arrives in the city under the guise of studying law but is secretly bound to marry his sponsors unappealing daughter. Disillusioned with his predetermined fate, Gustave leaves the boarding house but finds himself drawn to a mysterious young English widow who seeks his help. Discover the twists and turns of their intertwined ...

In Rough Justice, we delve into the gripping mystery of Lisa Rainers murder. Could her previous lover who embarked on a fortune-seeking expedition to Africa and found a new romance on his return be responsible? Or are there deeper, blood-stained motives at play? Follow Detective John Thorne as he unravels the truth in this thrilling saga inspired by real events. But this isnt just your typical detective novel - its an exploration of class, gender, societal norms, and the complexities of family. - Summary by Stav Nisser.

A beautiful woman. A perfect marriage. A secret worth killing for. When the enchanting Lucy Graham marries the wealthy Sir Michael Audley, she appears to have secured a fairy-tale future. Charming, graceful, and seemingly innocent, Lady Audley quickly becomes the jewel of Audley Court. But...

When The Doctor's Wife was first published in 1864, Mary Elizabeth Braddon was well known for her scandalous bestseller, Lady Audley's Secret. Adultery, death, and the spectacle of female recrimination and suffering are the elements that combine to make The Doctor's Wife a classic women's 'sensation' novel. Yet it is also Braddon's most self-consciously literary work and her rewriting of Madame Bovary. Like Emma Bovary, Braddon's heroine, Isabel Gilbert, is trapped in a marriage to a man incapable of understanding her imaginative life.

Mme. Thevenok et ses deux filles décident de passer une annonce pour trouver un locataire afin d'améliorer leur quotidien. Le capitaine répond à l'annonce et tombe amoureux de Barbara, la fille ainée. Le père n'est pas favorable à cette union. Le capitaine Leland doit partir en Inde et quelques mois plus tard rend la promesse à Barbara. Son père en profite pour lui présenter un parti plus riche: M. Penruth. Mais quels sont les secrets que cache la famille Penruth ? Barbara trouvera-t-elle le bonheur malgré son amour toujours aussi fort pour son capitaine ?

If you drive through the Lady's Mile, the most fashionable district in London, you will see people whose most distinguished ambition was to be known in that circle. A novelist, a painter, and some aristocrats, willing to prove themselves to the world. But what happens behind closed doors? Is the Lady's Mile as respectable as it seems? - Summary by Stav Nisser.

Only 15-years-old, Eleanor Vane is very happy with her lot: educated in an expensive finishing school in Paris, the apple of her father's eye, and disposed to be kind. Of course there are things missing: she does not remember her mother who died when she was young. But at least she has her father... Until he unexpectedly dies. Now Eleanor is at the mercy of her half-siblings who were never in touch with her, and the rest of the world who would consider her an orphaned beggar. Sent to work as a lady's companion to an old friend of her late father's, Eleanor might, just might, be able to win a ...

Aurora Floyd is the spoiled, impetuous, but kind hearted daughter of Archibald Floyd, a wealthy banker and his wife, an actress who died shortly after Aurora's birth. As a teenager she is sent away to finishing school in Paris. This is volume two of the story which tells of Aurora's life with her husband John Mellish. This is a story of love, murder and the search for justice. - Summary by Michele Eaton

This is one of the Victorian “Sensationist” Mary Elizabeth Braddon's many novels (best known among them: “Lady Audley’s Secret”). It is extremely well written, fluid, humorous and, in places, self-mocking: one of the main characters is a Sensation Author. The motifs of the-woman-with-a-secret, adultery, and death are classic “sensationist” material. Yet this is also a self-consciously serious work of literature, taking on various social themes of the day. Specifically, Braddon presents the psychological struggle and cognitive dissonance which are the inevitable plight of the ...

A novel written in three volumes. In the golden age of steam, the London train wends its way across the Tamar into the strange and mystic land that is Cornwall, having left most of its length at Plymouth. A weary doctor gazes at the countryside, when the train grinds to a halt and his professional attention is demanded. A young woman. An apparent suicide. Who was she? What brought her to Cornwall? What drove her to kill herself? Or did she? - Summary by Lynne Thompson

This story revolves around Gilbert Fenton, a very talented middle class businessman from London, who falls in love with a beautiful country woman far below his station. He decides to marry her anyway. But is she all that she seems? (Summary by Stav Nisser.)