A searching study of the main elements of fiction including narrative, detail, characterisation, dialogue, realism and style. From Homer to Beatrix Potter, this is both a study of the techniques of fiction-making and an alternative history of the novel. Reissued here as its influence continues.

James Wood has been a staff writer at the New Yorker since 2007. In 2009, he won the National Magazine Award for reviews and criticism. He was the chief literary critic at the Guardian from 1992 to 1995, and a book critic at the New Republic from 1995 to 2007. He has published a number of books with Cape, including How Fiction Works, which has been translated into thirteen languages.