Wyllard's Weird (1885) by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Wyllard’s Weird is precisely the kind of novel that Braddon, who was renowned for her ability to enthral readers with her complex narratives, compelling characters, and evocative descriptions, wrote.  Her writing frequently explored issues of marriage, gender norms, and morality, went beyond the accepted boundaries of normativity by Victorian society. The fact that she discusses marriage and “the other woman” in the majority of her novels intrigues me, as she was viewed as the other woman in her relationship with John Maxwell who had been wed to Mary Ann Crowley.  Wyllard’s Weird was critically dismissed by one contemporary reviewer in The Athenæum, who summarised Braddon’s mode of writing in this way:

It is obvious that current fiction is suffering from a revival. The tales of mystery and murder which went out of fashion as art came in are beginning to captivate once more, and the novel of furniture is giving place to raw tones of the romance of crime. It was not to be expected that the author ‘Lady Audley’s Secret’ should look on while others won success in the field where she had triumphed twenty years ago. ‘Wyllard’s Weird’ at all events proves that Mrs. Maxwell can still hold her own. The three-volume novelist is at some disadvantage in contending with the short stories which mark the revival. Mrs. Maxwell’s way of surmounting the difficulty is like that of the recent enterprisers of pantomime. The chief characters are doubled and the accessories are increased in splendour. One murder and one love story will do for a railway mystery, but for her three volumes Mrs. Maxwell provides two horrid murders and two love stories, and the scenery is lavishly supplied […]. Mrs Maxwell has never been very strong in the study of character. Her figures are always well described; they are good for appearance and action, but one never knows them intimately. There is no one in ‘Wyllard’s Weird’ to fascinate the reader by his personality. (1885, pp. 371-72)

The novel explored themes that remained of fascination to her readers, focusing on the scandalous and sensational. As another contemporary reviewer in The Academy tellingly noted, ‘It would almost seem as if the author of Lady Audley’s Secret had written Wyllard’s Weird to prove that her hand has not lost the cunning which first gained her popularity.’ (1885, p. 201).