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Social changes in Britain that led to an increase in women readers:

(i)The most exciting element of the novel was the involvement of women. The eighteenth century saw the middle classes become more prosperous.

(ii)Women got more leisure to read as well as write novels. And novels began exploring the world of women – their emotions and identities, their experiences and problems.

(iii)Many novels were about domestic life – a theme about which women were allowed to speak with authority. They drew upon their experience, wrote about family life and earned public recognition.