Dusinberre's book explores Woolf's search, in The Common Reader and other non-fictional writings, for an alternative literary tradition for women. Of equal interest to students of Virginia Woolf and of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century writing, it discusses Montaigne, Donne, Sir John Harington, Dorothy Osborne, Madame de Sevigne, Pepys and Bunyan, together with forms of writing, such as essays, letters and diaries, traditionally associated with women. Questions about printing, the body and the relation between amateurs and professionals create fascinating connections between the early modern period and Virginia Woolf.