first novel

The novel has always had the reputation of being light entertainment, almost bordering on the frivolous. Part of the blame for this reputation can be placed on the word novel itself.

Cervantes, Gabriel Garca Mrquez, Rudyard Kipling, Ian Fleming, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, James Mitchener. All famous novelists. All male. But did you know that the world first full novel - and one of the finest ever - was written by a woman

Johannes Gutenberg is often credited as the inventor of the printing press in 1454. However, the Chinese actually printed from movable type in 1040. Gutenberg was unaware of the Chinese printing methods