Description
A governess with a head full of romantic heroines, Isabel Sleaford marries parish doctor George Gilbert expecting life to finally deliver the drama she’s long imagined. Instead, she finds herself trapped in the quiet routines of middle-class respectability—where desire, duty, and reputation collide with devastating force. As Isabel’s private choices and mounting disillusionment draw her toward scandal, Braddon turns the “woman with a secret” into a psychologically sharp study of cognitive dissonance, emotional confinement, and the cruel judgments that follow women who step outside their assigned roles. With fluid, often self-mocking Victorian sensation style, this novel blends suspense with themes of marriage, agency, adultery, and death—ultimately revealing how resilience can coexist with bitterness when the world refuses to forgive.
Available Editions
paperback
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published Jan 1, 2015
156 pages
ISBN: 9781518724954
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Details
First Published
1864
Language
eng
Content Warnings
Content and trigger warnings for The Doctor's Wife by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.