It is precisely this sort of question that the Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction is designed to answer. More than 4,000 identifications are put forward, from over 1,000 English language novels and short stories. Supporting evidence (or sometimes contesting evidence) is presented, from contemporary diaries and letters, biographies and autobiographies, journals and newspapers. Easy-to-use Whatever your starting point, this Dictionary offers you access to a wealth of information. * If you want to know which characters in Vanity Fair are based on real people, or which of Virginia Woolf's friends and relations cropped up in her novels, then you can consult the first section, which is arranged by author and by work, and lists all fictional names with their corresponding real-life names * Or if you are studying Byron and wonder which fictional characters are based on him, you can refer to the second section, which forms the core of the book. It lists all 'real' people and places, with a biographical or explanatory note, and gives their fictional counterparts and identifying extracts * To complete the structure, the third section is an index of all the fictional people and places contained in the Dictionary , and the fourth is an index of the novels and short stories This fascinating Dictionary will inform and entertain the serious student and the curious reader alike, laying bare some of the facts behind the fiction, shedding light on aspects of social and cultural history, and giving a valuable insight into the literary world of the last two centuries.