"Essays that show how Smiley draws inspiration from across literary history to invigorate her own writing. Among the authors she examines are Marguerite de Navarre, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, Willa Cather, Franz Kafka, Halldor Laxness, and Jessica Mitford"--
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and one of Americas preeminent novelists, who draws inspiration from across the literary spectrum, offers penetrating essays on some of the aesthetic and cultural issues that mark any serious engagement with reading and writing.
