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Mary Elizabeth Braddon: Lady Audley’s Secret & more
Mary Elizabeth Braddon: Lady Audley’s Secret & more
Jul 10, 2025 11:45 PM

Author:Mary Elizabeth Braddon,Full Cast,Hattie Morahan,Perdita Weeks,Charlotte Emmerson,Sam Dale,Stephanie Turner,Jonathan Firth,Alison Pettitt,Tracy-Ann Oberman

Mary Elizabeth Braddon: Lady Audley’s Secret & more

Three classic stories from the 'Queen of Sensation Fiction' - plus bonus documentary

Mary Elizabeth Braddon was one of the most important and influential female novelists of the 19th Century, and the founder (alongside Wilkie Collins) of the popular 'sensation fiction' genre. This collection features her best-known novel, Lady Audley's Secret, a thrilling tale of bigamy, murder and arson that outraged Victorian society on its first release - and was an instant bestseller. Also included are two atmospheric short stories and an edition of Sensational Women exploring her life and work.

Lady Audley's Secret - Lucy Graham gains all the wealth she desires through her marriage to the devoted Sir Michael Audley. But her newfound security is threatened when young lawyer Robert Audley sets out to uncover the truth about her hidden past. Hattie Morahan, Charlotte Emmerson, Alex Wyndham and Sam Dale star in this electrifying dramatisation.

The Cold Embrace - When Josef, a handsome young German artist, betrays his delicate fiancée, her vengeance is eerily appropriate... This chilling adaptation of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's ghostly story stars Stephanie Turner, Jonathan Firth and Alison Pettitt.

Samuel Lowgood's Revenge - An impoverished clerk discovers that his rival in love has defrauded their employer. But what should he do with this knowledge? Barbara Flynn reads Braddon's 1861 tale of jealousy and retribution.

Sensational Women: Mary Braddon - Sarah Dunant takes a look at the notorious sensation author, who was condemned for rotting the moral fibre of a whole generation of young women.

First published 1860 ('The Cold Embrace'), 1861 ('Samuel Lowgood's Revenge'), 1862 (Lady Audley's Secret)

Cast and credits

Written by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Lady Audley's Secret

Mary Braddon - Hattie Morahan

Lucy, Lady Audley - Charlotte Emmerson

Sir Michael Audley - Sam Dale

Phoebe Marks - Lizzy Watts

Luke Marks - Benjamin Askew

Robert Audley - Alex Wyndham

George Talboys - Joseph Kloska

Alicia Audley - Perdita Weeks

Lieutenant Maldon - Jonathan Tafler

Mr Dawson/Landlord - Paul Rider

Mrs Vincent - Charlotte West-Oram

Tonks - Deborah McAndrew

Dramatised by Theresa Heskins

Directed by Julie Beckett and Fiona Kelcher

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 20 April-1 May 2009

The Cold Embrace

Mary Braddon - Stephanie Turner

Josef - Jonathan Firth

Gertrude - Alison Pettitt

Father - John Hartley

Postmaster - Ioan Meredith

Passenger - Hugh Dickson

Woman - Carolyn Jones

Fisherman - Chris Pavlo

Parisienne - Tracy-Ann Oberman

Dramatised by Christopher Hawes

Produced by Marion Nancarrow

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 June 1997

Samuel Lowgood's Revenge

Read by Barbara Flynn

Produced by Rebecca Nicholson

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18 November 1998

Sensational Women: Mary Braddon

Presented by Sarah Dunant

Extracts read by Sally Beauman

Produced by Lore Windemuth

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 October 1996

© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Reviews

Pratchett is a comic genius

—— Daily Express

Cracking dialogue, compelling illogic and unchained whimsy... Pratchett has a subject and a style that is very much his own

—— The Sunday Times

He is screamingly funny. He is wise. He has style

—— Sunday Telegraph

A dark and mesmerizing vision of adolescent desire--this book will devour you

—— Robin Wasserman, author of The Waking Dark and The Cold Awakening series

'Like Jonathan Swift, Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own, and like Swift he is a satirist of enormous talent ... incredibly funny ... compulsively readable'

—— The Times

'Classic English humour, with all the slapstick, twists and dry observations you could hope for'

—— The Times

Startlingly original

—— Guardian on BRAISED PORK

Intensely atmospheric

—— LA Review of Books on BRAISED PORK

Otherwordly and deeply moving

—— BuzzFeed on BRAISED PORK

Real magic

—— LitHub on BRAISED PORK

Shimmering

—— Wall Street Journal on BRAISED PORK

Rich and wild

—— Observer on BRAISED PORK

Enchanting

—— Shelf Awareness on BRAISED PORK

Electric

—— TIME on BRAISED PORK

This taut, explosive novel is all the more terrifying because it edges so close to reality. Frida's predicament embodies the fraught question so many women are taught to ask: Am I good enough?

—— Leni Zumas, author of RED CLOCKS

This book is like nothing I've read before. Haunting and unforgettable, and I'm in awe of Jessamine Chan's mind.

—— Liz Moore, author of LONG BRIGHT RIVER and HEFT

Heartbreaking and daring, propulsive and wise. I read it with my heart in my throat and I held my kids tight.

—— Diane Cook, author of the Booker Prize finalist THE NEW WILDERNESS

Jessamine Chan captures, in heartbreaking tones, the exacting price women pay in a patriarchal society that despises them, that reduces their worth to their viability for procreation and capacity for mothering. The School for Good Mothers is not so much a warning for some possible dystopian nightmare as much as it is an alarm announcing that the nightmare is here. The book is, thus, a weeping testimony, a haunting song, and a piercing rebuke of both the misogynist social order and the traps it lays for women, girls, and femmes. Good Mothers deserves an honored place next to the works of Margaret Atwood and Octavia Butler.

—— Robert Jones, Jr., author of THE PROPHETS and creator of Son of Baldwin

Gutting and terrifying. Vivid and exquisite. In The School for Good Mothers, you'll find not only your favourite novel of the year, but also a new cultural touchstone, a reference point for the everyday horrors all parents experience and take for granted. This book is sharp, shocking, anxiety-provoking, superb. It is exactly what you want, and need, to read

—— Julia Phillips

(An) intense, unputdownable debut that will doubtless spark conversation about what makes a good or bad mother

—— Oprah Daily

Picks up the mantel of writers like Margaret Atwood and Kazuo Ishiguro . . . but it also stands on its own as a remarkable, propulsive novel. At a moment when state control over women's bodies (and autonomy) seems ever more chilling, the book feels horrifyingly unbelievable and eerily prescient all at once

—— Vogue, The Best Books of 2022

[An] enthralling speculative debut . . . A powerful story, made more so by its empathetic and complicated heroine

—— Kirkus Starred Review

Enthralling....a powerful story, made more so by its empathetic and complicated heroine

—— Publishers Weekly

A gripping, witty and ultimately redemptive vision of dystopian motherhood

—— Leah Hazard, author of HARD PUSHED

This scarily prescient novel that's reminiscent of Orwell and Vonnegut explores the depths of parents' love, how strictly we judge mothers and each other and the terrifying potential of government overreach

—— Good Housekeeping (US)

(An) infuriatingly timely debut novel... that may read more like a preview than a dystopia, depending on your faith in the future of Roe v. Wade

—— New York Times

No book has ever made me cry this much. The School for Good Mothers is an absolute masterpiece

—— Rosie Walker, author of Secrets of a Serial Killer

A powerful story

—— SFX

Chan's high-concept novel may toy with dystopia but it remains chillingly plausible, a portrait of our fanatical culture of judgement against women, and mothers in particular, taken to a grotesquely logical extreme

—— Metro

A nail-biting explosive story exploring the pressures of 'perfect' parenting

—— Woman's Own Magazine

The writing is at times hilarious and scalpel sharp

—— Independent (Ireland)

Part science fiction, part incarceration narrative and part Cultural Revolution memoir, it is as gripping as it is terrifying - and for mothers struggling to 'do the right thing', all too believable

—— Spiked Online

Propulsive and provocative

—— Daily Express

The School For Good Mothers is a perceptive, prescient and daring debut that presents a dystopia that doesn't feel as far away as we'd like it to

—— Culturefly

An unforgettable an haunting story about the thoughts, opinions and choices you make

—— Woman's Weekly

Reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale, this eerie page-turner is a captivating depiction of a dystopian world that feels entirely possible. It's not only the gripping story of Frida's personal struggle, but also a thought-provoking work of commentary on American motherhood

—— TIME

I was fascinated and intrigued by this feminist dystopian novel

—— Daily Mail

So brilliant and haunting and ahead of its time... the only book that has ever stopped me from sleeping

—— Jessie Cave

Dark and dreamy; a captivating love story

—— Stylist

Lushly imagined, extremely charming and very, very readable

—— Stuart Kelly , Scotland on Sunday

One of the most beautiful novels of the year

—— Observer

Lush, evocative, dreamlike... a magical, coming-of-age story

—— Sunday Times

Pure pleasure... Erin Morgenstern is a gifted, classic storyteller, a tale-teller, a spinner of the charmed and mesmerizing - I had many other things I was supposed to be doing, but the book kept drawing me back in and I tore through it. You can be certain this riveting debut will create a group of rêveurs all its own.

—— Aimee Bender, author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

The narrative is deft and satisfying, and the author's talent is intriguing

—— Jonathan Barnes , Times Literary Supplement

This week's hot read... I loved this book and didn't want it to end... Totally absorbing and beautifully descriptive, it created a whole world I couldn't help but get lost it, especially the slow-burning love story between the two main characters, who are both sorcerers

—— Deborah Hughes , Woman Magazine

The Night Circus made me happy. Playful and intensely imaginative, Erin Morgenstern has created the circus I have always longed for and she has populated it with dueling love-struck magicians, precocious kittens, hyper-elegant displays of beauty and complicated clocks. This is a marvelous book

—— Audrey Niffenegger

I'm not often lost for words, but I'm struggling to find the words to describe just how good this book is and how it made me feel, so I'll just say this: if you are only able to read one book for the rest of your life, make sure it is The Night Circus. You won't regret it

—— BookBag

A phantasmagorical world inhabited by compelling characters. Grown-up fans of Harry Potter, take note

—— Sunday Business Post

Morgenstern paints precise, evocative and visually lush scenes within the tents of her fictional circus… a genuine pleasure to read. Like any successful illusion, it could be carefully unraveled but surely it should simply be enjoyed

—— Claire Messud , Guardian

For all its whimsy, the author’s lush, evocative, dreamlike prose is not as sugar-coated as it sounds. Her writing is delectable, addictive stuff, and this is an accomplished, refreshingly unusual debut

—— Alison Flood , Sunday Times

Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents, Le Cirque des Reves is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazement

—— Female First

A phantasmagorical fairytale for grown-ups

—— Image

Absolutely spellbinding! A wonderful mix of history and magic that will keep you captivated. We love this magical debut!

—— Living North

Enough here to satisfy fans of JK Rowling or even Suzanna Clarke

—— Val Nolan , Irish Examiner

For ultimate holiday escapism delve into Morgenstern’s tale… Expect some unfamiliar acts and a good old love story in there too

—— AtHomeMagazine

Enchanting and whimsical historical fantasy, this is a delight for the imagination with its breathtaking imagery, intriguing plot, and beautiful writing

—— Foyles, Books of the Year
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