A 'base and spurious thing': Reading and deceptive femininity in Ellen Wood's Parkwater (1857)

Concentrating on Ellen Wood’s Parkwater, a little-known New MonthlyMagazine serial, this article attempts to complicate the long-standingconstruction of Wood as a ‘quiet sensationalist’. It argues that Wood’sserial was self-consciously appealing to the New Monthly’s male readersand thus incorporated scenes and details of a surprisingly graphic nature.At the same time, the article situates the narrative within the context ofa new commodity culture, as well as the 1857 murder trial of MadeleineSmith, suggesting that Wood’s exploration of deceptive femininityresonates with current events in a particularly insistent manner