This is a comprehensive account of writing by women from the Middle Ages to the present day. It comprises nine new essays by women scholars who are experts in a particular period of literary history and who have an interest in feminist criticism. The book thus provides a survey of the whole range of women's writing, establishes characteristics belonging to each period, and also suggests ways in which continuities and developments have emerged. Although this text is informed by feminist criticism, it is also designed to be accessible to readers unacquainted with feminist literary theory and caters to both a general and an undergraduate readership.