I thought at first that these were little potted biographies of women writers like Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott, but they're really not. And that's a good thing, because as biographies they would be wholly inadequate - there's simply not space here to do eighteen separate writers justice. Instead, it's something altogether different. Each graphic section illustrates a small section of the life of the writer in question, often linking it to aspects of her most famous work. In the case of Alcott, for example, the focus is on how writing gave her a way out of her financial struggles (much as it did for Jo in Little Women). In another example, Mary Shelley's grief over the death of her infant daughter ("If only I could bring you back") is shown as an influence on Frankenstein.

It's very clever, but mostly it feels quite atmospheric, as if each section is a little emotional taster of the author and her works. In any case, once I got over the potted-biography idea I thoroughly enjoyed it.