Lady Audley's Secret

The Nape of the Neck by G. Gluckmann

Now that we know who has won, it may be time to turn to the matter of a Victorian novel about a governess and how she finds her way. And in the case of Lady Audley, her path is a little windier than most. The sensationalist novel begins with a variety of characterizations.

Firstly there is Lucy Graham, the uniquely fair and pretty governess who works under the care of a Sir Michael Audley, who falls in love with the woman and wishes to marry her if she may tolerate him well enough. And so they are joined as man and wife and Sir Audley becomes, for a time, one of the happier men to lord over the estate. In Lucy, he regains his youth, and finds in her a care that he never had for his deceased wife, who he married in order to gain land that he never really needed in the first place. 

Then like a movie played out wherein the characters are not introduced in a direct right, we get to know, a George Talboys who is returning to England from Australia after having been away for a couple of years. He has made his fortune and is in search of his wife who he left for a time. Upon return to his homeland he finds her to have died and left in his care, a son, who has been kept with his grandfather. 

George has no interest in raising his son, and stays with his friend Robert Audley, nephew to Sir Michael. But George's thoughts toward his deceased wife do not end, and on his way to visit a neighboring town, he disappears, leaving Robert obsessed in solving the answer to the life of his missing friend. And in Robert's quest, the secrets of Lady Audley are revealed.

​By Sarah Bahl

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