Ann Veronica is the first novel in which Wells deliberately took a social and domestic problem and set it out in a human and straight forward story. It is one of those 'early Wells novels' which are regarded as his best work in fiction, and it is in its way a land mark not only in Wells's career but in the development of the modern novel. For its realistic - idealistic portrayal of the contemporary circumstances of physical love, and as a story of the movement for the social and political emancipation of women, it will command readers for a long time. With its publication in 1909 Mr. Wells reached a larger public than previously.