Those who still think of Victorian women novelists, or the bulk of them at least, as incorrigibly genteel and domestic in their approach, might consider reading this one. Mrs Braddon is remembered chiefly for Lady Audley's Secret, which few of us have read but most people have heard about; and Aurora Floyd's secret is the same as Lady Audley's. That is to say, she is a bigamist, which according to the introduction, was not uncommon in fictional themes of the time and gave certain writers an opportunity, to write about adultery under, another name. Murder, blackmail, high life and low life, sentiment and worldly cynicism are all deployed with some narrative skill, and in a way often reminiscent of Mrs Braddon's contemporary, Wilkie Collins.