Lady Isabel had rank, beauty, and a husband who loved her. In one reckless hour she threw it all away.
When the proud and beautiful Lady Isabel Vane abandons her husband and children for a false lover, she forfeits her place in the world forever. Years later - widowed by scandal, disfigured in a railway accident, and consumed by remorse - she returns to her old home in disguise, taking a post as governess to her own children, forced to watch the life she lost and forbidden ever to claim it, while a buried murder threatens the family's peace.
First published in 1861, East Lynne was the great sensation novel of its age, selling in the hundreds of thousands and holding the Victorian stage for fifty years. Ellen Wood's tale of pride, shame, and a mother's unbearable secret remains one of the most affecting melodramas in