A detailed study of an increasingly popular genre, this book offers readings of a group of significant and representative works, drawing on a range of interpretative strategies to examine the ways in which the contemporary historical novel engages with questions of nation and identity to illuminate Britain's post-imperial condition.
'Mariadele Boccardi's study of the contemporary British historical novel is an absorbing, accomplished and well-researched piece of criticism that not only comments insightfully on a good range of writers but also represents a valuable contribution to ongoing debates about fiction, history, memory, nostalgia and postmodernism.' - Michael Greaney, Senior Lecturer in English, Lancaster University, UK
'... the study's overall achievement: to give an informative, well-researched and long awaited overview of questions of nation and empire in a genre that has to be counted among the most significant of contemporary fiction.' - Imke Neumann, ZAA - A Quarterly of Language, Literature and Culture
'... the study's overall achievement: to give an informative, well-researched and long awaited overview of questions of nation and empire in a genre that has to be counted among the most significant of contemporary fiction.' - Imke Neumann, ZAA - A Quarterly of Language, Literature and Culture