Presenting a unique sociological examination of women writers and 'race', this original study fills a gap in the literature of this period by focusing on women's literary works of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Wright offers a sociological perspective drawing from a range of academic disciplines, particularly literature, history and cultural studies, and traces the emergence of British modernity through the writings of a select group of women writers. Writers discussed include Jane Austen, Hannah More, Fanny Burney, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley and Maria Edgeworth, of diverse political and philosophical affiliations. Engagingly written, this book makes a strong contribution to issues in the sociology of literature and social history, and includes a helpful comprehensive bibliography which will be of use to scholars and students researching on this period.