This critical guide analyzes in 135 essays the narrative practices and stylistic devices of the fiction of women novelists from all over the English-speaking world. In addition, 11 further chapters focus on fiction, the rise of international English literature, fiction from the post-war period (when the novel was supposed to be dead), post-structuralist theory, postmodernism and magic realism, and feminist theory. The guide also discusses dozens more writers from across the world in a geographically arranged chapter, while a final chapter guides readers through the vast range of available research resources. The bibliography covers the secondary criticism available, in seperate listings for each of the 135 entries, and in a list of both general criticism and anthologies.