MARIADELE BOCCARDI is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of the West of England, UK. Her publications include The Contemporary British Historical Novel: Representation, Nation, Empire (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

'Boccardi offers a compact yet comprehensive introduction to Byatt's work and succinctly situates Byatt's long career within major critical debates and existing scholarship.' - Stephanie Harzewski, University of Pennsylvania, USA

• General Editors' PrefaceAcknowledgementsPART I: INTRODUCTIONTimelineIntroduction: A. S. Byatt A 'New' British Novelist?A Resistance to Biographical Readings: The Shadow of the Sun (1964) and The Game (1967)PART II: MAJOR WORKSChronicles of Post-war England: The Virgin in the Garden (1978), Still Life (1985), Babel Tower (1996) and A Whistling Woman (2002)Victorian Echoes: Possession: A Romance (1990), Angels and Insects (1992) and The Biographer's Tale (2000)Colours, Textures and Narrative Patterns: A. S. Byatt's Short Stories CollectionsThe Inexorable Movement of History: The Children's Book (2009)PART III: CRITICISM AND CONTEXTA Survey of Landmark InterviewsOther WritingsCritical ReceptionBibliographyIndex.