Editing Mary Elizabeth Braddon (section)

===Writing===
[[File:Mary Elizabeth Maxwell (née Braddon) by William Powell Frith.jpg|thumb|338x338px|Portrait of Mary Elizabeth Braddon by [[William Powell Frith]], 1865]]

Braddon was a prolific writer, producing more than 80 novels with inventive plots. The most famous is ''[[Lady Audley's Secret]]'' (1862), which won her recognition and a fortune as a bestseller.<ref name="ven" /> Braddon began publishing the first chapters of her novel [[Serial (literature)|serially]] in July, 1861, in ''Robin Goodfellow,'' a literary magazine owned by Maxwell, and then later ''Sixpenny Magazine''. ''Lady Audley's Secret'' was then republished as a novel and sold through nine editions in its first year of publication. It has remained in print since its publication and been dramatised and filmed several times, with the first stage adaptation opening in London by the winter of 1863.<ref name="auto">{{Cite ODNB |title=Braddon [married name Maxwell], Mary Elizabeth (1835–1915), novelist |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-34962 |access-date=2023-05-25 |year=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/34962 |last1=Mullin |first1=Katherine |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref> 

In addition to ''Lady Audley's Secret,'' Braddon's other best-known novel, ''[[Aurora Floyd]],'' was published in 1863. Since it also featured a woman trapped in a [[bigamous]] relationship, ''Aurora Floyd'' and ''Lady Audley's Secret'' have been referred to as Braddon's "bigamy novels." Like ''Lady Audley, Aurora Floyd'' was first serialized in ''[[Temple Bar (magazine)|Temple Bar]],'' a magazine, before appearing in novelized form.<ref name="auto" />

[[R. D. Blackmore]]'s anonymous sensation novel ''[[Clara Vaughan]]'' (1864) was wrongly attributed to Braddon by some critics.

Braddon wrote several works of [[supernatural fiction]], including the [[Deals with the Devil in popular culture|pact with the devil]] story ''Gerard or The World, the Flesh, and the Devil'' (1891), and the [[ghost stories]] "The Cold Embrace", "Eveline's Visitant" and "At Chrighton Abbey".<ref>[[Mike Ashley (writer)|Mike Ashley]] "BRADDON, M(ary) E(lizabeth)" In ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost, & Gothic Writers'', ed. [[David Pringle]]. Detroit: St. James Press/Gale, 1998, {{ISBN|1558622063}} pp. 80–83.</ref><ref>E. F. Bleiler (1983), ''The Guide to Supernatural Fiction''. Kent, Ohio: Kent State UP. {{ISBN|0873382889}} pp. 77–78.</ref> From the 1930s onwards, these stories were often anthologised in collections such as [[Montague Summers]]'s ''The Supernatural Omnibus'' (1931) and ''Fifty Years of Ghost Stories'' (1935).<ref>[[Mike Ashley (writer)|Mike Ashley]] and William Contento, ''The Supernatural Index: A Listing of Fantasy, Supernatural, Occult, Weird, and Horror Anthologies''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995. {{ISBN|0313240302}} p. 134.</ref> Braddon also wrote historical fiction. ''In High Places'' depicts the youth of [[Cultural depictions of Charles I of England|Charles I]].<ref name="jn">Jonathan Nield (1925), ''A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales.'' G. P. Putnam's Sons, pp. 60, 68, 82 and 108.</ref> ''London Pride'' focuses on [[Cultural depictions of Charles II of England|Charles II]].<ref name="jn" /> ''Mohawks'' is set during the reign of [[Cultural depictions of Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]].<ref name="jn" /> ''Ishmael'' is set at the time of [[Napoleon III|Napoleon III's]] rise to power.<ref name="jn" />