As one of the Tamesis `Companion' series, and as its title suggests, this book - the first of its kind in English - aims to provide the well-informed but non-specialist reader (as well as undergraduate and graduate students of Spanish literature) with an comprehensive overview of Cervantes's Novelas ejemplares. Making extensive reference to the work of other scholars, the substantial Introduction (pp.1-46) (authored by me) considers such fundamental issues as historical and literary context, early publication history, composition and dating, the ordering of the novelas, reception history, the connotations of the words of the title, variety, unity, and, finally, the vexed question of their `exemplarity'. There follow twelve chapters, each written by an eminent Cervantine scholar, devoted to considering (in accordance with their sequence in the collection) key issues in the interpretation of the stories. A further two chapters examine global aspects of the collection, and detailed synopses of the stories and a Guide to Further Reading are supplied as appendices. Thus, the volume seeks to strike a balance between `surveying' the major features of Cervantes's text and doing justice to its complexity by making available a series of detailed and closely-argued analyses by scholars who represent something of the variety of critical approaches to and opinions about the Novelas ejemplares.