It also soon became clear that the dominant themes in English realist fiction did not appeal in India, the largest colonial market, as they did not reflect the realities of Indian readers. Instead these readers favoured fiction that emphasised themes like moral virtue, struggle, oppression and liberation; most strikingly the novels of George W. M. Reynolds, many of which centred around social injustice in nineteenth-century London.

Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile Hist…, loc. 638