Literature often reflects societal change, but it can also effect change by inspiring people to think in new ways. Four authors who encourage readers to question traditional boundaries are Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes, Jeanette Winterson and Angela Carter. This book takes an in-depth look at the works of these authors with specific emphasis on how they challenge religion (especially in its fundamentalist forms) and its intersections with history, politics, gender and sexuality. The study notes both differences and similarities among the four authors, whose writings broadly represent the...