East Lynne, or, The Earl's Daughter is an 1861 English sensation novel by Ellen Wood, writing as Mrs. Henry Wood. A Victorian-era bestseller, it is remembered chiefly for its elaborate and implausible plot centering on infidelity and double identities. There have been numerous stage and film adaptations. The much-quoted line "Gone! And never called me mother!" (variant: "Dead! Dead! And never called me mother!") does not appear in the book; both variants come from later stage adaptations. The book was originally serialised in The New Monthly Magazine between January 1860 and September 1861, and it was issued as a three-volume novel on 19 September 1861.
Adaptations (3)
East Lynne has been adapted 3 times, across film and television film, from 1913 to 1982.
East Lynne1913 · film · 69 min · dir. Bert Haldane · IMDb ↗An aristocratic woman, Lady Isabel, leaves her husband and children when she suspects him of adultery, a notion which had been suggested to her by the scheming and murderous Captain Levison. Life on the continent with Levison does not work out as she had envisaged so, eight years later, she returns to England and finds her husband has remarried. She cannot bear to be away from her family and so dons a disguise, gaining employment with them as a governess. When her young son, Willie, dies she is unable to comfort him as she would like, and she too dies.
East Lynne1916 · film · 50 min · dir. Bertram Bracken · IMDb ↗IMDb5.9An adaptation of the 1861 novel by English author Ellen Wood: The story of long-suffering Lady Isabel Carlisle cast in a modern setting.
East Lynne1982 · television film · dir. David Green · IMDb ↗IMDb6.7Adaptation of the novel by Mrs Henry Wood.
