Women Writing Musicals was a fascinating read. After an introductory chapter on the 18th and 19th centuries, the book chapters were organised by decade, and within those chapters were a series of biographies showcasing the women writing for musical theatre in that time period. These paragraphs varied in length from a few lines to a couple of pages depending on the contributions made. On the one hand, I thought this layout worked well, and it resulted in a book that can easily be dipped into for just a few minutes at a time. On the other hand, part of me would have liked more of a narrative, placing each writer within the context of musical theatre at the time. By the end, though, I decided that probably wasn't necessary, as readers of this book are unlikely to be musical theatre novices and fans would already have a good sense of different periods of musical theatre history, having encountered style through the shows themselves or from other general books of musicals. There were small profile pictures of the women, but that was the only illustration throughout; a few additional images, such as show posters or snapshots of relevant sheet music, might have added a little more charm and variety. But overall I thought this book an excellent reference work for musical theatre fans and I am giving it four stars.