Best-selling work

In the past, taste was often defined by the ruling classes although in the last decade popular style has perhaps been more influenced by television reality stars, at least until the arrival of the Duchess of Cambridge.

The world of literature has reflected changing tastes too from the bawdy comedies of Restoration England which rejected Puritan attitudes, to the 20th century spy novel linked with Cold War tensions.

Nevertheless, there remain strong parallels between the Gothic novels of the 18th century, which were wildly popular among the new female reading public, and today’s chicklit.

While the appeal of some books of yesteryear remains hard to fathom, they offer an excellent insight into past social and cultural issues.

And readers at Sheffield Hallam University who are leafing through a collection of best-sellers from the first half of the last century - many of them covering crime and romance - can also be assured that tastes are perhaps not so far removed from today’s.