The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional and usually entertaining account of a person's life.

This kind of novel concentrates on the experiences a person had during his lifetime, the people he met and the incidents which occurred are detailed and sometimes trimmings are done to give it the appearance of a novel. Names and accounts may be changed as and when necessary. A very good example of this kind is Goldsmith's "The Vicar of Wakefield" and is believed to be the biography of a person the author had known and observed very closely. Even Addison's The Spectator is said to have characters he had known.