A newlywed with a deadly secret
Aurora Floyd's the spoiled, only daughter of rich widower Archibald Floyd; the result of his scandalous marriage to a penurious actress. Aurora grows up a renowned beauty, known locally as 'fast' for her unladylike habits - hunting and riding horses - she however is undaunted and confident. But after her return from a French finishing-school, Aurora returns oddly changed, gaunt, worried as if harbouring some terrible secret. Time passes, Aurora's engaged to be married but her past threatens to ruin her chance of happiness.
Braddon's follow up to the immensely successful Lady Audley's Secret is a once both a mystery and the moving coming-of-age story of a young woman carrying the burden of a past with bad decisions.