The Octoroon; or, The Lily Of Louisiana
by M. E. Braddon
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The Octoroon or The Lily of Louisiana is a dark tale of crime, race and slavery. Cora, educated in Britain, returns to her fathers plantation in Louisiana to explore the truth about her mother's slave origins. This book, originally published as a series between 1861 and 1862, was Braddon's second anonymous novel and is now known as a classic anti-slavery novel. Mary Elizabeth Braddon was born in Soho, London, England in 1835. She had her first serial novel published in 1861 and was an show more extremely prolific writer for the rest of her life. She produced more than 80 novels as well as several stage plays. show lessTags
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Mary Elizabeth Braddon, the daughter of a solicitor, was educated privately. As a young woman, she acted under an assumed name for three years in order to support herself and her mother. In 1860 she met John Maxwell, a publisher of periodicals, whose wife was in an asylum for the insane. Braddon acted as stepmother to Maxwell's five children and show more bore him five illegitimate children before the couple married, in 1874, when Maxwell's wife died. Braddon's most famous novel, Lady Audley's Secret (1862), was first published serially in Robin Goodfellow and The Sixpenny Magazine. One of the earliest sensationalist novels, it sold nearly one million copies during Braddon's lifetime. Its plot involves bigamy, the protagonist's desertion of her child, her murder of her first husband, and her thoughts of poisoning her second husband. The novel shocked and outraged her contemporary, Margaret Oliphant, who said Braddon had invented "the fair-haired demon of modern fiction." Throughout her long literary career, during which she wrote more than 80 novels and edited several magazines, Braddon was often excoriated for her penchant for sensationalizing violence, crime, and sexual indiscretion. Nevertheless, Braddon had many well-known devotees, among them William Makepeace Thackeray, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Braddon died in 1915. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- The Octoroon; or, The Lily Of Louisiana
- Original publication date
- 1861 - 1862 (serial) (serial)
- First words
- The last notes of a favourite waltz resounded through the splendid saloons of Mrs. Montresor's mansion in Grosvenor Square; sparkling eyes and glittering jewels flashed in the lamplight; the rival queens of rank and beauty sh... (show all)one side by side upon the aristocratic crowd; the rich perfumes of exotic blossoms floated on the air; brave men and lovely women were met together to assist at the farewell ball given by the wealthy American, Mrs. Montresor, on her departure for New Orleans with her lovely niece, Adelaide Horton, whose charming face and sprightly manners had been the admiration of all London during the season of 1860.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)If any line which we have written has gained one convert to the cause of freedom, we have not written in vain, and the feeling of regret with which we bid adieu to the kind and indulgent readers who have sympathised with the sufferings, of which we have told, will be mingled with the happy consciousness, that our labour has not been wasted, and that we have made friends for the great cause of Liberty versus Slavery, as well as for CORA, the OCTOROON.
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- Languages
- English
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- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 1
