The Maniac in the Cellar: Sensation Novels of the 1860sOnce a controversial genre of Victorian fiction that produced the major best sellers of its century, the now forgotten sensation novel was a publishing phenomenon in its time. In a vivid portrait of this subversive and discomfiting popular literature, Winifred Hughes identifies its ingredients, its practitioners, and its implications, and reveals its significance both for the mid Victorian consciousness and for the writers and readers of today.