Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Entering into History: The Woman Citizen and the Historical Novel, 1900-1929; Histories of the Defeated: Writers Taking Side in the 1930s; Writing the War and After: Wicked Ladies and Wayward Women in the 1940s; Hollow Men and Homosexual Heroes: Exploring Masculinity in the 1950s; The Return of the Repressed: Maternal Histories in the 1960s; Selling Women's History: Popular Historical Fiction in the 1970s; 'Herstory' to Postmodern Histories: History as Dissent in the 1980s; Dialogues with the Dead: History and the Sense of an Ending, 1990-2000; Postscript; Bibliography; Index.
Summary
Diana Wallace tracks the development of British women writer's use of the historical novel genre through the 20th century, combining her survey with key readings from writers including Naomi Mitchison, Mary Renault, Jean Plaidy, Pat Barker, Georgette Heyer & Philippa Gregory.
