The 17th century was an era of vigorous experimentation in prose fiction. It also saw the appearance of the first prose fiction published by women in English, and the writings of Mary Cavendish and Mary Wroth are published here for the first time in 300 years. The works and extracts collected here offer a sample of all the major forms of fiction - Book One of Wroth's feminist romance "Urania", Herbert's political romance "The Princess Cloria", Cavendish's female Utopia "The Blazing World", Dangerfield's picaresque criminal autobiography "Don Tomazo", Bunyan's exemplary cautionary tale "Mr Badman", Congreve's witty novella "Incognita", and Behn's comic Restoration tale "The Unfortunate Happy Lady". The texts are newly edited and modernized, and should appeal to students of 17th-century literature and women's studies courses, as well as to the interested general reader.