A History of the Novel in Britain by Philip Hensher review – a masterpiece of criticism

This joyous book takes readers on a literary adventure across 200 years of fiction, from Defoe to Zadie Smith In his opening paragraph, Philip Hensher declares that a novel not only “tells a good story” but is a good story in itself. We could extend that neat formula to include this book, which ...

Source: [Guardian International](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/aug/12/a-history-of-the-novel-in-britain-by-philip-hensher-review-a-masterpiece-of-criticism)