A History of the Novel in Britain

The story of the novel in Britain is a good story.

It begins in the eighteenth century, when people began to read in ever greater numbers, seeking words that helped explain their hopes and desires. A new kind of literature was needed for this growing market of readers, one that reflected as many different lives in its pages as there were people to buy them, that could change with the times and do something new: something novel.

In this illuminating new history of both an art and an industry, Philip Hensher describes how the evolutionary scramble by writers and publishers to get attention drove constant innovation in writing techniques, and produced new ways of printing, distributing, and selling books. Over the course of three hundred years, these creative and commercial forces shaped the novel’s form and its future, from Daniel Defoe to Zadie Smith.

Reading widely across the famous, the once famous and the utterly (if unfairly) forgotten, this is a work of investigative verve that makes a serious case for widening the canon. But it is also a gift: Hensher has read untold thousands of books, and A History of the Novel in Britain is his hoard of treasure, waiting to be discovered, wondered at and delighted in.

Review

With the closure of English literature departments in some British universities, and the rise of AI, there can be no better time for Hensher’s magisterial defence of the novel… His taste is impeccable… One of the joys of this history is Hensher’s refreshingly honest opinions. He does not mince his words… Exemplary and witty history which makes you want to re-read so many classics and discover so many lost gems -- Paula Byrne ― The Times

Not only a masterful account of fiction since 1719, when Daniel Defoe set Robinson Crusoe down on his desert island, but … itself a wonderful read… 600 pages of deep pleasure -- Kathryn Hughes

A masterpiece of criticism ― Guardian

About the Author

Philip Hensher is the prizewinning author of twelve novels, and the editor of The Penguin Book of the British Short Story (in two volumes) and of The Penguin Book of the Contemporary British Short Story. He is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.