This is Braddon's best book, certainly of those that are currently available. Deceptively simple it is both haunting and beautiful with a heroine who is not only spirited and wilful but refreshingly so as Braddon was among the first to create such a character in 'sensational' literature. I would reccomend this absolutely, it is a truly beautiful book.

"Aurora Floyd" may not be the best novel Mary Elizabeth Braddon wrote -- the honor goes to "Lady Audley's Secret" -- but, the book is still intriguing because of the contrast it makes with the other book and many other comtemporary novels, especially "Jane Eyre." And if you don't have these historical interest, the book is pretty interesting thanks to its good story telling.

"Aurora Floyd" follows the history of the heroine of the same name, who has a shady past left in France. Aurora, unrestrained morally in her youth, hides some secret, but still attractive enough to make the two heroes fall in love with her. Without telling the nature of the secret, Aurora, strong-willed and candid, a gives a clear warning to one of them, proud Talbot Bulstrode, that he may one day regret his rash action if he dares to marry her. While he vanishes from her to marry other woman, tame and tender-hearted Lucy, the other suitor meek John Mellish succeeds in winning her heart, and he immediately marries her, not knowing her secret. As the time goes on, however, her hidden secret emerges from the past, and finally catches up with Aurora, living now quietly in a countryside. She must face the past, but how? While she is tormented by the sense of guilt, her husband began to suspect something wicked is going on, and he too began to suffer.

The story is melodramatic, but it is the merit of sensation novels, the genre in vogue during the 1860s, and Braddon, as she showed in her previous (actually written almost at the same time) "Lady Audley's Secret," is very good at handling the subject. It is notable, however, that the author intends to do something different this time, spending more pages on the analysis of the psychology of the characters. The result is a mixed bag; sometimes she shows good descriptions of characters with a witty touch, which reminds us of Thackeray, the story sometimes gets slower because of too much philosophy. Compared with the fast-paced "Lady Audley's Secret," her new experiment may look somewhat damaging.

But as a whole, the book is agreeable, and after you finish two-thirds of the book, Braddon makes the plot speedier. The last part includes one of the earliest examples of detective story, and a good (but short) portrayal of detective Joseph Grimstone's work is still fascinating. But the greatest merit of the book is its sub-text dealing with incredibly violent passion of Aurora, whose image is clearly mocking the typical angelic image of Victorain women. One of the book's scenes, in which the heroine gives a shower of blows with her wrip to her stable-man who bullied her dog, caused sensation and scandalized some critics. The description is still impressive today.

In conclusion, "Aurora Floyd" is a fairly gripping story, even though it is not the best place to start reading her books or Victorian novels. If you think you are familiar with those Victoraiin novels, or want to read one of the effect following the impact of Bronte's "Jane Eyre," try it.

Trivia: Braddon lived long (died in 1915), and before her death, she even watched the filmed version of her own "Aurora Floyd." Her life story is as intriguing as a story she wrote.

[NOTE ON THE TEXT] Oxford University Press's "Aurora Flyod" uses the later edition of the book while Broadview Press's uses an earlier edition. The former one is considerable changed from the latter, so for the academic use you must be careful.

Having devoured Trollope, Willkie Collins, I happened onto Aurora Floyd and was truly surprised to find such an outstanding story so beautifully written. A dark secret revealed, a murder and a love story, this is a wonderful book.

Mary Elizabeth Braddon's first novel is a lurid melodrama in which you see plenty of crimes -- murder, blackmail, revenge, etc. Every element found in melodramaric story is thrown into the book, and not surprisingly, it even has some rudimentary detective novel quality.

The story is rather simple; it is about a man called "Daredevil Dick" who is wrongly arrested for killing his rich uncle. Despite the strong belief of Mr. Peters (who is to play the detective role) that Richard is innocent, his plea is ignored.

But that is only the beginning of the gripping story, which goes between a muddy town of Slopperton and fashoionable society of Paris. The story is too improbable but thankfully always moving on, providing many dramatic and often humorous moments about the fate of Richard and those who try to rescue him, and it culminates in the their hunt for the villain who vanished his trail from the crime scene.

The book is weak as a detective novel, so do not expect something like "The Moonstone." As I said, it is more like a melodrama, and there are countless occasions of incredible coincidences. But that is one of the conventions you can find in this kind of popular novels intended for commercial purpose. It is interesting for us to see that Braddon does not still find her own voice; her style in this book is a strange concoction of Dickens and melodrama. Read the opening chapter and you instantly recognize the influence of Dickensian sentences about the rainy London in "Bleak House."

The novel itself (which was first published as "Three Times Dead" and later revised and retitled as the present one) is not as good as her works like "Lady Audley's Secret" and others, its flaws being too palpable. Still, if you like her novels or these Victorian or 19th century thriller -- like Eugene Sue's novels -- you might be interested in the book as I was.

This modern library edition has Sarah Waters' introduction (which I found not so impressive), but more remarkable thing about it is that it has also the afterword and notes by acclaimed Victorian scholar Chris Willis. The notes (32 pages) are extensive and helpful, but more helpful is her afterword, which puts Braddon in context of the history of detective fiction. Much more informative than obligatory "further reading" list.

And the book also has the reprint of Braddon's own memoir titled "My First Novel" published in 1893. This short account by her own pen does not reveal much about the book or herself, but it has several clear-cut illustrations of her house in Richmond.

Pure pleasure, or nearly so, from beginning to end. Written in surprisingly accessible prose (for a nineteenth-century novel, that is), Trail of the Serpent zips from reversal to counter-reversal, including one that knocked me completely for a loop, and I pride myself on figuring these sorts of things out. There are the odd longueurs, particularly in the last third, but this is a great rediscovery, and if you're at all fond of Woman in White, Moonstone, Drood, etc., you'll have a blast.

The Doctor's Wife is the 4th of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's novels which I have had the good fortune to read. There are 76 more, so, Oxford World's Classics, bring them on! In this, my favorite so far, the heroine reads novels and dreams of her life being like those heroines in her novels. She especially seems to have an affinity with Edith Dombey. Isabel marries a decent, honest, but not much of a dreamer type man. He is very sensible and loves her much, but doesn't satisfy her emotionally, while someone else does. Braddon's wonderful word paintings of the nature scenes, and her many literary allusions were what brought this book to be my favorite of hers so far. And I thought the story was also a little more interesting. I highly recommend this author to anyone who reads 19th century literature for FUN, which is why I do it.

The cover description of this novel grabbed my interest when I saw it in the bookstore, so I decided to give it a try. It's the first book I have struggled with in a while. And it's not because it's hard to read; far from it. The characters are, simply put, not interesting. I didn't care for a single one of them, not even the "detective" of the story, Robert Audley, or the "enchanting" and "mysterious" heroine herself, Lady Audley. There was some good bits of suspense, and a few bits of mystery, but because of the flat characters this really did little to compensate.

This novel tells the story of a beautiful woman whose secret becomes her undoing.
She uses her beauty, helplessness, and coquettish manner to achieve her end desires, but behind the innocent facade is a woman who is clever, manipulative and ruthless.
Lucy's secret and her extreme desire to keep it ruins the lives of the people around her (as most closely guarded secrets do).
I can't say anymore without giving the plot away.
The secret may be obvious, but the actual path to its discovery, its revelation, and aftermath shape the novel.
I could hardly put this book down and will certainly re-read it to see if I missed something the first time. A marvelous read - you will enjoy it if you like Victorian novels.

...I was suprised at how much I liked this book. I am not one for Victorian "sensationalists" preferring swashbuckling but Miss Braddon (as she was then called) is a great writer who gives explainations for her character's wild behavior. Considered quite a trashy novelist in her day, her stories are much tamer than what is on network television.

Read, enjoy this escapist novel

I got here after getting to Collins, after going through Dickens. This is an awful book, in my humble opinion. Why has it been resurrected? (Rhetorical) If you love Dickens, maybe you found Collins, and if you love Collins, then you and I are relevantly similar, so let me tell you, don't bother with this insipid tripe, or with "Doctor's Wife" for that matter. Unless you are simply obligated, because you are a gendered wannabe English professor, in some forsaken place, poor you.

During the 1860s Wilkie Collins, with his terrific The Woman In White, started the period of 'sensation' novels. These novels are rather over-the-type, almost slapstick-like mystery stories. Mary Elizabeth Braddon followed with her own flavor of sensation novels. While I love many of Wilkie Collins novels I was disappointed with Braddon's most famous work, Lady Audley's Secret. But when I ran into a copy of John Marchmont's Legacy I thought I'd give Ms Braddon a try. Was I disappointed? Well...

Firstly, the story is a typical Victorian era melodrama: family members squabbling over an inheritance, with certain members stopping at nothing to become rich. Ms Braddon does do a good job on the characterizations, and the ultimate mystery does build up to a good conclusion. The book is nicely structured (..unlike Lady Audley's Secret, where we find the story basically ending 100 pages from the finish).

However Ms Braddon is simply not a very good writer. Her prose is weak, especially compared to Wilkie Collins. Every third sentence ends with an exclamation point, which must be Ms Braddon's way of indicating high drama (?).

Bottom line: a unremarkable slice of Victorian literary history. Certainly not terrible, but nonetheless a far cry from Wilkie Collins material.

M E Braddon was one of the most prolific Sensation novellists of the nineteenth century. Her popularity as a novellist of the suspenseful, shocking and unexpected was surpassed only by Wilkie Collins (The Moonstone; The Woman in White). The central character in "John Marchmont's legacy" is Olivia Marchmont, a woman driven by intense passions, and unable to accept that the man she loves cannot return her feelings. Olivia is a wonderful portrait of a woman stifled by the conventions of Victorian society and the limited scope for a woman of intelligence and ambition. Her thwarted passions lead her to become involved with a true villain who will do anything to accomplish his wicked designs. This is a great melodrama with all the elements of a true Sensation novel- handsome hero; delicate, virtuous heroine- but also a truly unique character in Olivia.