Considers the reputations and biographical portrayal of three innovative and controversial writers: Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Wilkie Collins and William Thackeray

Introduction 1. Braddon the Actress a) Mrs Charles [Adelaide] Calvert, Sixty-Eight Years on the Stage b) William Babington Maxwell, Time Gathered 2. Braddon the Novelista) Anon., 'Mrs. Wood and Miss Braddon', Littell's Living Age b) Anon., 'Miss Braddon', New Reviews) [W. Fraser Rae], 'Sensation Novelists: Miss Braddon', North British Review d) Anon., 'Miss Braddon's Novels', Dublin University Magazine 3. Braddon's Relationships with John Gilby and John Maxwell a) Anon., Obituary of John Gilby, Beverley Recorder and General Advertiser b) Anon., 'Metropolitan on Dits', Court Journal c) Richard Brinsley Knowles, 'Miss Braddon, the Novelist, and Mr. Maxwell', Public Opinion d) Richard Brinsley Knowles, Mary Anne Maxwell e) Anon., 'Miss Braddon in Trouble', New York Times 4. [Margaret Oliphant], 'Novels', Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 5. Braddon as Thief a) Anon., 'Miss Babington White', London Review 6. Recollections of John Maxwell i) Anon., 'Death of Mr. John Maxwell', Richmond and Twickenham Times 7. Braddon's Social Networks 8. Profiles and Interviews 9. Matilda Betham Edwards, Mid-Victorian Memories 10. Young Admirers a) Harry Furniss, Some Victorian Women: Good, Bad and Indifferent b) William Babington Maxwell, Time Gathered c) Douglas Sladen, My Long Life d) Yoshio Markino, Miss Braddon 11. Ford Madox Ford (Huef er), It was the Nightingale 12. Obituaries and Tributes