East Lynne by Ellen Wood, Henry Wood, Elisabeth Jay (Editor)

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Synopsis

When the aristocratic Lady Isabel abandons her husband and children for her wicked seducer, more is at stake than moral retribution. Ellen Wood played upon the anxieties of the Victorian middle classes who feared a breakdown of the social order as divorce became more readily available and promiscuity threatened the sanctity of the family. In her novel the simple act of hiring a governess raises the spectres of murder, disguise, and adultery. Her sensation novel was devoured by readers from the Prince of Wales to Joseph Conrad and continued to fascinate theatre-goers and cinema audiences well into the next century. This edition returns for the first time to the racy, slang-ridden narrative of the first edition, rather than the subsequent stylistically 'improved' versions hitherto reproduced by modern editors.

Biography

Elisabeth Jay's published work includes a literary biography of Margaret Oliphant, an edition of Oliphant's autobiography (OUP) and her novel Miss Marjoribanks (Penguin), and a series of books on nineteenth-century literature and religion.