While Jane Austen was one of many women writers in her own day, she has since been cast in the role of instigator rather than inheritor of a rich and diverse tradition of women's writing. Dale Spender reclaims the many women writers who made significant contributions to the literary tradition. This book examines the role of women writers in the development of the novel, and suggests they have been ignored by previous criticism, and looks at writings of the most significant women authors, their lives and achievements and the public response to their work.