Mary Elizabeth Braddon — Lady Audley's Secret with Kristine Huntley

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Pass the smelling salts! Readers of the Victorian Era eagerly (or furtively) set scruples aside to read Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s 1862 sensation novel Lady Audley’s Secret — the title of which was enough to tempt even the most puritanical schoolmarm into sneaking a peak. But it was Braddon’s sumptuous prose, eye for drama and sophisticated understanding of social mores which won her the admiration of contemporaries like William Makepiece Thackery, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Robert Louis Stevenson. Booklist reviewer and television writer Kristine Huntley joins us this week to discuss Braddon’s remarkable prowess in navigating scandalous secrets … including her own!
Mentioned in this episode:
2026 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction shortlist and longlist (ala.org/carnegie-medals/2026-winners)
Booklist (booklistonline.com)
Lady Audley’s Secret (bookshop.org/p/books/lady-audley-s-secret-mary…)by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
“Abducted by my Teacher” (mylifetime.com/movies/abducted-by-my-teacher-t…) Lifetime movie
“Freakish” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freakish_(TV_series)) on Hulu
“Mind Games” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_Games_(TV_series)) on ABC
“Two Sentence Horror Stories” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Sentence_Horror_Stor…) on the CW
Thereal case (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Kent) that partially inspired Lady Audley’s Secret
John Maxwell (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maxwell_(publisher))
Aurora Floyd (bookshop.org/p/books/aurora-floyd-mary-elizabe…) by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
The Woman in White (bookshop.org/p/books/the-woman-in-white-wilkie…) by Wilkie Collins
The Doctor’s Wife (bookshop.org/p/books/the-doctor-s-wife-mary-el…) by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
The Trail of the Serpent (bookshop.org/p/books/the-trail-of-the-serpent-…) by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Three Times Dead (amazon.com/Three-Times-Dead-Elizabeth-Braddon/…) by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Daniel Deronda (bookshop.org/p/books/daniel-deronda-george-eli…) by George Eliot
Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 268 (lostladiesoflit.com/podcast/268-rosalind-ashe-…) on Rosalind Ashe
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