Smith's wise, provocative, and readable volume explores the 'disruptive action or reaction that occurs when a [female] character—or, conceivably, an author—is either unable or unwilling to confront or reveal her own lesbianism or lesbian desire.'... The author addresses the work of eminent modernists (e.g., Woolf, Spark, Lessing, Bowen) along with more experimental narratives (... Emma Tennant, Fay Weldon, Jeanette Winterson).... Smith resists easy explanations by addressing the political and cultural context of narrative ideologies....A genuine addition to lesbian and narrative studies and a balancing vision to politically motivated criticism.
— Choice

Patricia Juliana Smith is lecturer in English at the University of California, Los Angeles.