 Murasaki Shikibu ( 紫 式部 , English : Lady Murasaki ; c . 973 or 978 – c . 1014 or 1031 ) was a Japanese novelist , poet and lady @-@ in @-@ waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period . She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji , written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012 , and considered to be the world’s first novel .
 everybody knows that the tale of genji is the first novel.
But it is not the first novel in English.
That honor belongs to Tom Jones.
The Tale of Genji is the first novel in Japanese.