This book is a close study of Miss Burney's technical proficiency as a novelist. It describes the techniques she used to create point of view, characterization, tempo, and plot construction; it demonstrates how effectively or ineffectively she employed these techniques; and it discusses her overall contribution to the craft of novel-writing. The book also examines the relationship between her mastery of the technical aspects of the novel and the success or failure of the individual novels to more accurately place Burney in the history of the English novel.