Victorian fiction can provide a valuable source of information about society by virtue of its topicality and realistic techniques, influenced by contemporary journalism. In particular, the novels of Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy throw light on literacy practices, including reading aloud. The higher the literacy levels of the novels' characters, the less reading aloud is reported; and as literacy becomes more widespread through the 19th century, it is commented on increasingly less. Significantly, when instances of reading aloud are depicted, they fulfil purposes that seem to correspond with recognisable present-day scenarios, in which the power of the spoken word resonates.