What is known about female reading in the second half of the nineteenth century? A cartography of readings makes sense only if related to the community of male and female readers here analysed, using as data newspapers and literary works. A net of social interdependencies is established between female readers, writers and editors of the nineteenth century, having as theoretical-methodological references authors such as Roger Chartier, Michel de Certeau e Norbert Elias. The evidences, make clear that representating the book as the woman companion is always present in the novels analysed; the designation of readings that preconize moral customs and the reading of prohibited novels reveal not only female readings practices but also the strategies used in the search for a reading "space".