Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Born in London in England, Braddon was privately educated and worked as an actress for three years in order to able to support herself and her mother. She met John Maxwell, a publisher of periodicals, in 1860. However, Maxwell was married with five children and his wife was insane. She had acted as the stepmother of the children till 1874, when Maxwell's wife died, and they could get married. She had six children by him.

Ms. Braddon was an extremely prolific writer, producing some 75 novels with very inventive plots. The most famous one is her first novel, Lady Audley's Secret (1862), which won her recognition and fortune as well. The novel has been in print ever since, and has been dramatized and filmed several times.

She died on February 4, 1915 in Richmond, Surrey, England and is interred there in the Richmond Cemetery.

Partial bibliography:

• The Octoroon (1861)
• The Black Band (1861)
• Lady Audley's Secret (1862)
• Aurora Floyd 1863
• Eleanor's Victory 1863
• Henry Dunbar: the Story of an Outcast 1864
• Circe 1867
• Dead-Sea Fruit 1868
• Fenton's Quest 1871
• To the Bitter End 1872
• Publicans and Sinners 1873
• Lost For Love 1874
• Hostages to Fortune 1875
• An Open Verdict 1878
• The Cloven Foot 1879
• Vixen 1879
• Asphodel 1881
• Phantom Fortune 1883
• Ishmael. A Novel 1884
• Cut by the County 1887
• The Fatal Three 1888
• One Life, One Love 1890
• The World, the Flesh and the Devil 1891
• The Venetians 1892
• The Christmas Hirelings 1894
• Sons of Fire 1895
• Rough Justice 1898
• His Darling Sin 1899
• The Infidel 1900
• Dead Love Has Chains 1907
• During Her Majesty's Pleasure 1908