The financial crisis of 2008 quickly gave rise to a growing body of fiction: "Crunch Lit". These 'recession writings' take the financial crisis as their central narrative concern and explore its effects on consumer culture, gender roles and contemporary communities. Examining a range of texts including Sebastian Faulks' A Week in December, Adam Haslett's Union Atlantic, and John Lanchester's Capital, this book offers the first wide-ranging guide to these new millennial writings.

Katy Shaw is Principal Lecturer in Contemporary Literature at Leeds Beckett University, UK. Her previous publications include David Peace: Texts and Contexts and Mining the Meaning: Cultural Representations of the 1984-5 UK Miners' Strike.