This new book provides a significant introduction and critical survey of the diverse works of Kate O'Brien (1897 - 1974) the Irish novelist, playwright, film-script writer, short-story writer, journalist and biographer. Her novels in particular promoted gender equality and a greater understanding of gender diversity.

This study introduces students to Kate O'Brien as an artist and an activist woman in the world. It studies her normative and non-normative representations of sexualities and affects, typically embodied in a young woman who happens to fall as a clog into the crushing social machine. The book offers a discussion of her work’s political contents and effects, including her leftist commitments and issues of censorship.

Aintzane Legarreta Mentxaka’s theoretical lenses include feminist, queer, postcolonial, and anti-authoritarian analysis, as well as the critical assessment of criticism originating in them.