A critical reading of Rhys's entire oeuvre, including the stories and autobiography, informed by Rhys's own manuscripts.

Preface; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations and note on the text; Chronology; 1. Living on both sides, living to write; 2. Registering protest: The Left Bank and Quartet; 3. A Caribbean woman lost in Europe?: After Leaving Mr MacKenzie and the question of gender; 4. Writing colour, writing Caribbean: Voyage in the Dark and the politics of colour; 5. Dangerous spirit, bitterly amused: Good Morning, Midnight; 6. People in and out of place: spatial arrangements in Wide Sargasso Sea; 7. Brief encounters: Rhys and the craft of the short story; 8. Performance arts: the theatre of autobiography and the role of the personal essay; 9. The Helen of our wars: cultural politics and Jean Rhys criticism; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.