Cavanagh (English, Women’s Studies, Emory University) offers a detailed account of the first prose romance published by a woman in English, The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania , by Lady Mary
Wroth. Part I, printed in 1621, prompted an outcry due to its thinly veiled representation of the lives of prominent families. It was not republished until 1995. The remainder of Urania was
published in 2000. Cavanagh argues that the romance rewards persevering readers with its richly textured narrative, and treats Wroth’s integration of the issues fueling her era’s political,
scientific, and philosophical debates and its aesthetic and literary concerns. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
