This book represents the first full-length study of the relationship
between neo-Victorianism and nineteenth-century sensation fiction. It
examines the diverse and multiple legacies of Victorian popular fiction
by authors such as Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, tracing
their influence on a range of genres and works, including detective
fiction, YA writing, Gothic literature, and stage and screen
adaptations. In doing so, it forces a reappraisal of critical
understandings of neo-Victorianism in terms of its origins and meanings,
as well as offering an important critical intervention in popular
fiction studies. The work traces the afterlife of Victorian sensation
fiction, taking in the neo-Gothic writing of Daphne du Maurier and
Victoria Holt, contemporary popular historical detective and YA fiction
by authors including Elizabeth Peters and Philip Pullman, and the
literary fiction of writers such as Joanne Harris and Charles Palliser.
The work will appeal to scholars and students of Victorian fiction,
neo-Victorianism, and popular culture alike.