The Child in British Literature: Literary Constructions of Childhood Medieval to Contemporary is a collection of fifteen original essays which critically assess childhood in British literature from Medieval texts to contemporary fiction. Tracing changes and consistencies in the representation of childhood across eight centuries (1200 to 2010), the volume is distinctive in being the first book-length treatment of the child across such a wide range of British literary history. Gathering international expertise, the collection includes essays written by scholars in the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, and Europe. Experts on childhood in key periods of literature, the contributors reassess and challenge standard views of the literary child, offering fascinating new readings and providing compelling evidence that childhood has been a vibrant element in British writing for over 800 years.