"Allen focuses on a key critical concept which, as she demonstrates, has in recent years concerned many of those researching fiction, but has largely been addressed without an adequate theoretical and historical account. Allen's timely book redresses these failings, and rejects essentialist readings that neglect the concept's vitality and heterogeneous signification... Allen's study is original both in its analysis and its framing of a complex account of marginality, demonstrating a depth of knowledge of the study of the novel as a genre." - Professor Philip Tew, Brunel University, UK