Some early English novels were translated into the Indian language, but soon it was realized that the readers are unfamiliar with the English culture of characters in the novel, for instance, their clothes, style of speaking language, manners. So novels were written in Malayalam in the manner of English novel books.
A few early novels were a translation of English novels into Indian languages. Later many writers like Chandu Menon and others started to write novels in their own language. Chandu Menon, a sub judge from Malabar tried to translate an English novel called Henrietta Temple written by Benjamin Disraeli in Kerala were not familiar with the characters of English novels and so he gave up this idea and wrote a story in Malayalam in the manner of English novel books. It was published in 1889 and was the first modern novel in Malayalam.
