Who wrote the first English novel?

It's tricky to definitively say who wrote the *first* English novel because the genre evolved gradually. However, "Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded" (1740) by Samuel Richardson is often considered the first major English novel.

Here's why:

* Novelistic Features: It broke new ground with its epistolary form (written as a series of letters), realistic characters, and focus on the emotional lives of its protagonists.

* Cultural Impact: It was incredibly popular and sparked a wave of imitations and further developments in the novel genre.

* Genre-Defining: Many consider it the first novel to truly embody the characteristics that we associate with the form today.

While there were earlier works of fiction in English, "Pamela" is widely acknowledged as the first significant novel that helped shape the future of the genre.