A novel of manners is a long narrative that forms a study of the characteristic behaviors, customs, and values of a particular society.
Novel of manners, work of fiction that re-creates a social world, conveys with detailed observation the customs, values, and mores of a highly developed and complex society.
Notable writers of the novel of manners from the end of the 19th century into the 20th include Henry James, Evelyn Waugh, Edith Wharton, and John Marquand.