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While the gender and age of the girl may seem to remove her from any significant contribution to empire, this book provides both a new perspective on familiar girls´ literature, and the first detailed examination of lesser-known fiction relating the emergence of fictional girl adventurers, castaways and ´ripping´ schoolgirls to the British Empire.

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List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction: Imperial Girls in British Literature and Culture Shaping the ´Useful´ Girl: The Girl´s Own Paper , 1880-1907 Developing Pedagogy and Hybridised Femininity in the Girls´ School Story Adventurous Girls of the British Empire: The Novels of Bessie Marchant Fantastic and Domestic Girls and the Idolisation of ´Improving´ Others Be(ing) Prepared: Girl Guides, Colonial Life, and National Strength Microcosms of Girlhood: Reworking the Robinsonade for Girls Conclusion Bibliography Index

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´...Smith´s book is a well-written study that brings together a range of texts not previously discussed comprehensively in the context of the British Empire. A helpful index keeps the wealth of material accessible.´ -Jochen Petzold, Regensburg, ZAA

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MICHELLE J. SMITH is an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research on British girls´ literature, culture and empire has been published in a range of journals and edited collections. She is currently working on colonial Australian girls´ print culture and maintains a blog at http://www.girlsliterature.com.au

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