Schaffer explores an intriguing and under-studied aspect of cultural life in Victorian England: domestic handicrafts, the decorative pursuit that predated the Arts and Crafts movement. The book argues that the handicraft movement served as a way to critique the modern mass-produced commodity and the rapidly emerging industrial capitalism of the 19th century. The argument is illustrated with the four pivotal novels that form this study's core - Elizabeth Gaskell's 'Cranford', Charlotte Mary Yonge's 'The Daisy Chain', Charles Dickens's 'Our Mutual Friend', and Margaret Oliphant's 'Phoebe Junior'.