The collection makes a significant contribution to the scholarly study and interest in the epistolary genre, especially in women's use of the genre. Each chapter fulfills the editors’ promise of a “comparative analysis of studies of letters written by early modern European women from different countries, writing in different languages” (3). Each author clearly demonstrates how these women “adopted and adapted epistolary conventions in order to persuade their readers and to have an impact on the unfolding of events” (3). The book helps us understand epistles as important material objects because of the conditions in which women wrote letters, the method of delivering the message, and the recipients who read them. What makes this collection different from others is that the authors examine in depth the “rhetorical conventions for letter writing that shape the ways messages are composed and communicated” (5). The premise that letters “filter representations of lived experience through the rhetorical forms that shape them” (5) is supported throughout the book. For example, women were expected to keep silent; however, letter writing was a way for them to make their voice heard. The authors also explain the importance of ethos in helping the letter writer manipulate for rhetorical effect. And finally, the collection differentiates letters from literary texts, in that letters are embedded in the roles they play in actual lives and relationships.

The opening chapter sets up the context in which to understand the essays, and the rest of the book is divided into three parts. In the first part, “Persuasion for Family and Personal Goals,” the chapters focus on the ethos of the mother figure. Malcolm Richardson and Ann Crabb both analyze letter writers from the fifteenth century, Elizabeth Stonor and Englishwomen contemporary to her, and the Florentine Alessandra Strozzi. Richardson points out that “English women, rarely taught Latin, composed few letters until a vernacular letter writing tradition arose, a tradition well under way by the early fifteenth century” (7). Richardson describes fifteenth-century English letters as mostly short, businesslike, and unemotional, often using stock phrases taken from ars dictaminis manuals and from royal letters. Crabb's excellent study of the correspondence between the Florentine widow Alessandra Strozzi and her sons reveals a close relationship in which her sons respected her for her judgment and devotion to them. Strozzi presents convincing arguments in a diplomatic, polite manner. Christina Antenhofer analyzes the influence of the scribe in the letters Barbara of Brandenberg wrote to her German son-in-law. Erin Henriksen and Mark Zelcer describe Glikl of Hameln, a member of the German Jewish middle class, as a strong woman who infused in her letters her authority and her colorful, colloquial language. Deborah Stott weighs the language Cornelia Collonello uses to write to Michelangelo, her appointed father figure. Speaking through a scribe, she praises, persuades, and encourages Michelangelo to continue to support her and her sons. In her letters she never loses sight of the necessity of keeping on good terms with her guardian. Deanna Shemek's study of Isabella d’Este's letters reveals a fascinating woman who was well versed in property and financial matters. Isabella uses the rhetorical approach of showing obedience and loyalty toward her husband yet at the same time arguing in the favor of her interests.

In the second part, “Public and Private Intersecting,” the authors examine letters in which women have a public voice but yet balance it with the ethos of motherhood. James Daybell looks at sixteenth-century English women's partial literacy and their ability to read business and legal correspondence. He argues that seeking answers to those questions provides insight into the boundaries between public and private worlds for those women and their abilities to negotiate boundaries in the sixteenth century. Couchman analyzes the techniques of persuasion in the letters of Louise de Coligny. Louise played to family ties in her correspondence to exert influence in political matters between Henri IV and two Protestant nobles who rejected him after his conversion to Catholicism. Barbara Stephenson looks at the letters of Marguerite of Navarre, who writes to her brother King François I of France with obligatory loyalty. Often she was not successful in what she wanted to achieve in religious reform or political arenas, but her letters show that she remained outwardly loyal and obedient to François. Elizabeth McCartney analyzes the letters of Catherine de Médicis, whose methods of persuasion meant carefully masking her authority with a motherly image. Susan Broomhall's chapter describes the language of poor women of Tours. Each pauper woman dictated the factual story of her life in hopes of persuading officials to help them.

In the third part, “Validated by God and by Reason,” women assume authority by speaking out in letters about eternal truths and religious freedom. Alison Weber's chapter on Teresa of Avila shows how a sixteenth-century Spanish nun varied forms of address and second-person pronouns not only in letters to superiors but also in letters to the prioresses of her convents, with whom she was on friendly terms. Her informal voice of authority was embedded in the seemingly friendly letters, which enabled her “to build a strong inter-monastic network and reinforce the Teresian ideal of a physically enclosed but spiritually permeable convent” (261). Elena Levy-Navarro describes Luisa de Carvajal's correspondence with dignitaries in Spain. Luisa, who went to England as a missionary to defend the church against infidel Protestants, argues that women should found an order on the model of the Jesuits. Peter Matheson describes how the correspondence of Argula von Grumbach shows both the religious reformer side and the mother and wife role. Anne Larsen looks at the Dutch Protestant Anna Maria van Schurman's Latin correspondence with Andre Rivet, a French Protestant theologian. Guillaume Colletet translated her letters debating higher education for women into French. Larsen analyzes how Colletet changed Schurman's scholarly Latin to polite French and diluted her arguments about the need to educate middle-class women.

The collection has many strong points. The scholarly arguments in all the essays are supported with solid research. The authors include letters from different parts of Europe and from different social classes, religious backgrounds, and time periods. The book is also well written, even seamless, as we move from one chapter to the next. Another attractive feature is that the authors have managed to write a lively and engaging book that holds our attention from beginning to end. They have made the reader care about what happens to these female writers by the end of each chapter. The collection demonstrates how women took the “same models of the epistolary genre as did men and the same range of rhetorical techniques and conventions” to produce their own versions of decorum (7). Contributors also look at the role of the scribe and the effect it had on voice and content.

The collection is a significant contribution to the study of ars dictaminis. The audience for this text would be anyone from the disciplines of the history of rhetoric, history, composition, and women's studies. However, the book does more than just meet the requirements for a scholarly text. It is a complete joy to read. Also, anyone interested in letter writing would find the book informative. All the women in the collection are fascinating and colorful.