Far from being a conservative writer endorsing women's domestic role, Agatha Christie's book depicts women as adventurous, independent women who renegotiate sexual relationships along more equal lines. Women are also allowed the dangerous competency to disrupt society and yet the texts refuse to see them as double deviant because of their femininity. This detailed textual analysis of her oeuvre demonstrates exactly how quietly innovatory Christie was in relation to gender, beginning in nineteen twenty and concluding in the early seventies.

This book is an examination of feminist writers' appropriation of a range of popular genres: detective fiction, science fiction, romance, and the fairy tale. The author argues that feminists can successfully appropriate all four genres because genres, as cultural productions, have accommodated the cultural changes brought about by second-wave feminism. The book provides a history of each of the genres, reinstating women's contributions in those histories, and a comprehensive review of the feminist critical debates on each of the genres.

An examination of feminist writers' appropriation of a range of popular genres: detective fiction, science fiction, romance and the fairy tale. The author argues that feminists can successfully appropriate all four genres because genres, as cultural productions, have accommodated the cultural changes brought about by second-wave feminism. The book provides a history of each of the genres, reinstating women's contributions in those histories, and a comprehensive review of the feminist critical debates on each of the genres.

This Reader's Guide brings together, in an approachable form, the range of review and critical material on the novels of Jeanette Winterson. Covering all of Winterson's work, from Oranges are Not the Only Fruit to The PowerBook, Merja Makinen traces the early review reception of each novel on its publication and considers it alongside the larger critical debates that have subsequently evolved. Makinen follows the controversial critical analysis of Winterson as a lesbian writer, and develops the examination of the postmodern aspects of her work, whether as postmodern or post-Modern. Including a brief discussion of Winterson's most recent novel, Lighthouse Keeping, this is an indispensable guide for anyone studying, or simply interested in, the work of one of Britain's most successful contemporary authors.