The Feminine Middlebrow Novel, 1920s to 1950s

This is a study of the novels by and for middle-class women that dominated the publishing market in the first half of the twentieth century. Works by Agatha Christie, Nancy Mitford, Stella Gibbons, and many others are considered alongside cultural products such as cookery books, child-care manuals and women's magazines. The middlebrow women's fiction of this period is argued to be richer, subtler, and more socially influential than has previously been recognised.