There has been much debate about the literary origins of the novel. Liz Bellamy argues that the evolution of the novel in eighteenth-century Britain should also be seen in the context of other cultural changes, in particular the emergence of the study of economics. Through fresh readings of a wide range of novels, Bellamy examines the novel’s engagement with contemporary debates over public and private virtues and commercial and anti-commercial ethics, and shows how crucial these were to the structure and moral content of the novel as a form.