SOURCE: A review of Aurora Floyd, in Notes and Reviews, Dunster House, 1865, pp. 108-116.

In the following review, James praises Aurora Floyd as an important development in Braddon's literary career.

Miss Aurora Floyd, as half the world knows, was a young lady who got into no end of trouble by marrying her father's groom. We had supposed that this adventure had long ago become an old story; but here is a new edition of her memoirs to prove that the public has not done with her yet. We would assure those individuals who look with regret upon this assumption by a “sensation” novel of the honors of legitimate fiction, that the author of Aurora Floyd is an uncommonly clever person. Her works are distinguished by a quality for which we can find no better name than “pluck”; and should not pluck have its reward wherever found? If common...