Sensation fiction was an instant commercial success and took the literary world by storm in the 1860s. With scandalous protagonists and thrilling plots, sensation fiction captured the imagination of readers and outraged many critics.

We will consider Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s 1862 novel Lady Audley’s Secret and from 1868 Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone. Critics worried that the thrill of such fiction would be addictive and dangerous – so do come along!