But it was the popularity of the novel in the 18th century that made possible the explosion in female literacy. Beginning on the continent, in France and Italy, but translated into the vernacular of England and the Americas, the romantic novel became the rage, evoking male moral disapproval even as its popularity rose. In a letter dated August 17, 1789, Anna Seward, British poet and correspondent, dubbed the novel "sweet poison", one that corrupts the body as well as the spirit. And she wasn't alone. Yet canny male writers, such as Samuel Richardson, along with the burgeoning publishing industry, harnessed the trend, proving that women readers were a potent force in the literary mainstream.

Today, in the developed world, female literacy is taken for granted, but the threat of censorship and repression prevails in south Asia, the Arab states, and Sub-Saharan Africa with violent force. Ms Jack tells us that Unesco estimates that by 2015 a fifth of the world's population will still be illiterate, two-thirds of whom will be women. 

Yet there will always be heroines who risk their lives to grasp the golden ring of literacy. One need not look further than Iranian academic Azar Nafasi, who formed the Golden Needle Sewing Circle, a book club that ran from 1995 to 1997. Knowing that they risked torture, imprisonment, and even hanging, the women would arrive in their burqas with bags full of material and scissors that covered their notebooks and pens. Acting as lookouts, their children would play outside, alerting the women to the oncoming surveillance of the religious police. 

From ancient times to ours, in private homes and public places across the globe, readers of both sexes have craved the companionship of others in search of self-understanding and knowledge. The desire of women readers and writers to move beyond the strictures of time and place, and perhaps to bequeath something to posterity, is an impulse both personal and universal. The global triumph of female literacy may not yet be complete, but in the West the reading habit is today at least as much the preserve of women as of men.