This is the first full-length study of Hanrahan's work. It examines her visual art as well as her writing, discussing psychoanalytic theories of Freud, Kristeva and concepts such as the Lacanian "Imaginary". Some of Hanrahan's etchings are reproduced in the book, which also contains a detailed chronology of Hanrahan's life, pp.xv-xxiii, and a substantial bibliography, pp.123-146.