The Modern British Novel

Bradbury, an author himself, presents the evolution of the British novel from the late 1800s. He gives good summaries at the beginnings of each chapter, and each chapter builds on previous ones chronologically. He is sometimes spare in his treatment of authors we are more familiar with (e.g., Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf), and I suggest this because his other book "The Modern World: Ten Great Writers" gives much more on them. Also, his occasional bias, like against Bloombury, is jarring, but the book does introduce one to many British writers unknown across the Atlantic as well as bringing in adopted British writers like Rushdie. It does admirably well in its overall coverage for a single volume, and that is more than one could expect.