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 married middle-class woman with a strong sense of self, who is essentially constrained to live the life of her husband. In this, it echoes Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary.”
The heroine, Isabel Sleaford, was driven early in her childhood to bury herself in, and develop her sense of self through, romantic novels and poetry. She is thus ill-adapted to the conventional, provincial structures and strictures laid upon her when she marries the very good and adoring, but also boring and unimaginative, Dr. George Gilbert. Isabel forms friendships with men (including her husband's best friend) who are more amenable to her romantic inclinations, and inevitably encounters social condemnation as a result. The book shows how life’s tragedies and the world’s cruel judgments shape Isabel, as she grows more mature, somewhat embittered, but also – true to her nature – beautifully resilient. (Summary by Kirsten Wever)
The heroine, Isabel Sleaford, was driven early in her childhood to bury herself in, and develop her sense of self through, romantic novels and poetry. She is thus ill-adapted to the conventional, provincial structures and strictures laid upon her when she marries the very good and adoring, but also boring and unimaginative, Dr. George Gilbert. Isabel forms friendships with men (including her husband's best friend) who are more amenable to her romantic inclinations, and inevitably encounters social condemnation as a result. The book shows how life’s tragedies and the world’s cruel judgments shape Isabel, as she grows more mature, somewhat embittered, but also – true to her nature – beautifully resilient. (Summary by Kirsten Wever)
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Chapters
- Chapter 1
Chapter 1
16:49 - Chapter 2
Chapter 2
30:57 - Chapter 3
Chapter 3
45:38 - Chapter 4
Chapter 4
29:25 - Chapter 5
Chapter 5
35:05 - Chapter 6
Chapter 6
34:05 - Chapter 7
Chapter7
43:58 - Chapter 8
Chapter 8
14:22 - Chapter 9
Chapter 9
20:10 - Chapter 10
Chapter 10
18:56 - Chapter 11
Chapter 11
25:23 - Chapter 12
Chapter 12
46:26 - Chapter 13
Chapter 13
33:56 - Chapter 14
Chapter 14
31:02 - Chapter 15
Chapter 15
13:48 - Chapter 16
Chapter 16
29:37 - Chapter 17
Chapter 17
48:48 - Chapter 18
Chapter 18
33:17 - Chapter 19
Chapter 19
17:35 - Chapter 20
Chapter 20
32:32 - Chapter 21
Chapter 21
26:19 - Chapter 22
Chapter 22
19:41 - Chapter 23
Chapter 23
23:42 - Chapter 24
Chapter 24
23:35 - Chapter 25
Chapter 25
31:01 - Chapter 26
Chapter 26
31:56 - Chapter 27
Chapter 27
25:14 - Chapter 28
Chapter 28
21:00 - Chapter 29
Chapter 29
14:33 - Chapter 30
Chapter 30
30:16 - Chapter 31
Chapter 31
28:44 - Chapter 32
Chapter 32
28:59 - Chapter 33
Chapter 33
35:44 - Chapter 34
Chapter 34
20:26 - Chapter 35
Chapter 35
17:26 - Chapter 36
Chapter 36 Part 1
30:33 - Chapter 37
Chapter 36 Part 2
41:00 - Chapter 38
Chapter 37
27:53