This reference work is a chronological guide of some 700 entries arranged from Conrad's "Lord Jim" (1900) to Vikram Seth's "A Suitable Boy" (1993); together they present a view of the range and variety of the English novel in the 20th century. The varied selection takes in the best novels of writers like D.H. Lawrence, Evelyn Waugh and William Boyd but also covers novels that have been neglected or undervalued by writers as diverse as Ronald Firbank, Henry Williamson and Elizabeth Taylor. Typical entries run to about 750 words and give not only a succinct synopsis of the novel but also place the novels in the contexts of other novels being written at that date and within the author's own output. Contributors to the volume include Hilary Spurling, Lawrence Norfolk and Janet Barron.