Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Allen W. Grove

A village in Cornwall is thrown into turmoil after a young girl falls from a train to her death. Was this an accident? Or murder? The mystery deepens when clues link the girl to a double homicide committed ten years earlier. Braddon's sensational novel takes us to the estates of aristocrats, the haunts of tabloid writers, the homes of Bohemian artists, and the dark alleyways of Paris. Braddon, one of Victorian England's best-selling novelists, is at the height of her powers in Wyllard's Weird. The novel shakes the foundations of 19th-century social order as it questions the sanctity of marriage and exposes the vices hidden beneath masks of gentility. First published in 1885, Wyllard's Weird has been for too long either out of print or available only in expensive facsimile editions. The novel holds an important place in literary history as it forecasts the appearance of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1886 and Sherlock Holmes in 1887.

Wyllard's Weird

After a three year absence and a terrifying journey through the Black Forest, young Sir Albert has returned to Dornheim, eager to see again his friend Lord Frederic and his true love, the lady Constance. But his joy on his homecoming is short-lived when he learns he has rivals for Constance's love. The Baron of Dornheim is set to marry her in three days, and anxious to prevent the marriage and wed her himself, Frederic solicits the horrified Albert to assassinate the Baron. Determined to spare Constance a future with either the aged Dornheim or the murderous Frederic, Albert plots to rescue her from her father's castle. But when their plans are discovered, and a band of assassins are sent to murder Albert, he flees to the haunted Cavern of Death, where a phantom, a skeleton, and a bloody sword will reveal an unspeakable murder and the long-concealed secret of his own birth. Phenomenally popular in both England and the United States upon its publication in 1794, The Cavern of Death was among the most influential and widely-read of early Gothic novels. This new edition includes a new introduction and notes for modern readers.

T. J. Tranchell

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