Lady Audley’s Secret characters

Also known as Lucy Graham

Appears from the start

The young second wife of Sir Michael Audley, formerly a governess in a local household. Small, fair, and apparently guileless, she is admired for her beauty and light manner. Her rise from poverty to mistress of Audley Court seems to those around her like a fortunate romance.

Appears from the start

A wealthy widower and baronet who falls deeply in love with Lucy Graham and asks her to become his second wife. Kind, trusting, and much older than Lucy, he believes their marriage has restored happiness to Audley Court.

Appears from the start

Sir Michael's spirited adult daughter. She is wary of her very young stepmother and resents the changes at Audley Court, though her objections initially appear to be the ordinary jealousy of a displaced daughter.

Appears from the start

Lady Audley's maid and former fellow servant, whose pale coloring and resemblance to her mistress make the two visually striking together. Quiet and watchful, Phoebe has access to private rooms and possessions that others do not see.

Appears from the start

Phoebe's coarse, ambitious cousin and suitor. He sees her connection to Lady Audley as a path to money and pressures both women as he pursues the means to establish a public house.

First appears in chapter 2

An Englishman returning after making a fortune in Australia. He has spent the years abroad longing for his wife Helen and their young son, and the news awaiting him at home turns his hopeful return into grief and uncertainty.

First appears in chapter 3

Sir Michael's nephew, an amiable barrister who has drifted through adult life without much ambition. He quickly forms a close friendship with George Talboys and tries to support him through the shock awaiting him in England.

Also known as Georgey

First appears in chapter 5

The young son of George and Helen Talboys, left in the care of his maternal grandfather while George sought his fortune abroad. He remembers little of the disrupted life into which he was born.

First appears in chapter 5

Helen Talboys's father, a retired naval officer living in Southampton. He cares for his grandson Georgey and gives George Talboys a bleak account of what happened during George's absence.

First appears in chapter 20

George Talboys's sister, living unhappily under her father's severe authority. Direct, intelligent, and devoted to her missing brother, she recognizes in Robert a determination equal to her own need for answers.

First appears in chapter 20

George and Clara's wealthy father. Proud and unyielding, he judged George's marriage harshly and refuses at first to let uncertainty about his son disturb the order of his household.

First appears in chapter 24

The woman who employed Lucy Graham as a governess before Sir Michael met her. Her recollections form part of Robert's attempt to reconstruct Lucy's earlier life.

First appears in chapter 37

A physician asked to assess Lady Audley after Robert's investigation reaches its crisis. Calm and unsentimental, he distinguishes legal insanity from dangerous selfishness while advising the family on how she can be confined.