Drawing on his weekly Guardian column, "Elements of Fiction," John Mullan offers an engaging look at the novel, focusing mostly on works of the last ten years as he illuminates the rich resources of novelistic technique. Mullan sheds light on some of the true masterworks of contemporary fiction, including Monica Ali's <em>Brick Lane</em>, J.M. Coetzee's <em>Disgrace</em>, Don DeLillo's <em>Underworld</em>, Jonathan Franzen's <em>The Corrections</em>, Mark Haddon's <em>The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time</em>, Ian McEwan's <em>Atonement</em>, John le Carré's <em>The Constant Gardener</em>, Philip Roth's <em>The Human Stain</em>, Jonathan Safran Foer's <em>Everything Is Illuminated</em>, and Zadie Smith's <em>White Teeth</em>.
