Each title includes a wide-ranging yet carefully levelled introductory discussion of a literary period, genre or theme, to provide students with an excellent introduction to an area of literature.

Helps students to address the new assessment objective 4 ('demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which literary texts are written and received') - worth up to 35% of the A level qualification under new guidelines.

Discussion questions and end-of-section tasks offer an invaluable resource for self study as well as helpful exam preparation.

A mini-anthology of texts and extracts saves teachers time searching for appropriate 'wider reading' texts.