In the biblical narratives, women are usually minor characters in the stories of men. Fragments of women's stories must be gleaned from the more cohesive stories of their fathers, husbands and sons. Fragmented Women begins with the premise that, to recover shards of women's stories from androcentric texts like the Bible, it is necessary to step outside the ideology of the text, subverting the patriarchal perspective that has focused attention on the male characters.

In this classic work, J. Cheryl Exum draws on feminist literary theory to critique the dominant male voice of the biblical narrative and to construct (sub)versions of women's stories from the submerged strains of their voices in men's stories. For this Cornerstones edition Exum has provided a reflective introduction on the book's impact, and upon how the field has changed since it was published.