One feature that the novel has, which was absent in its predecessor the romance, is intimacy. Before the novel entered the scene tales were epic in scale and their protagonists were heroes in the true sense of the word! Novels, with their more down-to-earth style, had more relevance to their audience. Heroes had their own thoughts and anxieties which the reader was privy to for the first time and relationships grew between protagonists and readers which was private and personal.
Are you well read? Always have a novel on the go? If you think you have a good knowledge of novels then here's your chance to prove it! For starters, what was the working environment featured in Germinal? Or try this one - what kind of warship was the Caine in The Caine Mutiny? Still feel up to the challenge? Then have a go at this, the third in our series of four quizzes on novels.