Philip Hensher

An unmagnificent seven

Shelley DeWees has resurrected seven neglected female authors who, she claims, ‘transformed British literature’. The problem is, they are almost all manifestly terrible

issue 07 January 2017

One of the most interesting developments in modern publishing has surely been the revival of interest in women writers of the past. Beginning with Virago Press, publishers have delved back and rediscovered exceptional female writers from the 17th century onwards. These have either been rescued from oblivion, or from the frequent fate of being dismissed as middle-brow and narrowly domestic.

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