An overview of British fiction written between the mid-1760s and the early 1830s in its historical and cultural contexts.

Introduction Richard Maxwell and Katie Trumpener; 1. The historiography of fiction in the Romantic period Richard Maxwell; 2. Publishing, authorship, and reading William St Clair; 3. Gothic fiction Deidre Shauna Lynch; 4. The historical novel Richard Maxwell; 5. Thinking locally: novelistic worlds in provincial fiction Martha Bohrer; 6. Poetry and the novel Marshall Brown; 7. Orientalism and Empire James Watt; 8. Intellectual history and political theory Paul Keen; 9. Women writers and the woman's novel: the trope of maternal transmission Jill Campbell; 10. Tales for child readers Katie Trumpener; 11. Sentimental fiction Ann Wierda Rowland; 12. Fiction and the working classes Gary Kelly; 13. The Irish novel 1800-29 Ina Ferris; 14. Scotland and the novel Ian Duncan; Guide to further reading.