The Greatest Books of All Time on Betrayal

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
42 The Red and the Black Stendhal 1830 French French
43 Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner 1936 American English
46 One Thousand and One Nights Unknown 800 Multiple Arabic
47 David Copperfield Charles Dickens 1849 British English
55 Animal Farm George Orwell 1945 British English
71 Hamlet William Shakespeare 1600 British English
73 The Portrait of a Lady Henry James 1881 American English
85 The Good Soldier Ford Madox Ford 1915 British English
87 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
97 For Whom the Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway 1940 American English
100 Dune Frank Herbert 1965 American English
112 Doctor Zhivago Boris Pasternak 1957 Russian Russian
115 Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson 1883 British English
119 The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
129 First Folio William Shakespeare 1623 British English
130 The Tale of Genji Murasaki Shikibu 1001 Japanese Classical japanese
131 King Lear William Shakespeare 1608 British English
137 Lord Jim Joseph Conrad 1900 British English
138 The Charterhouse of Parma Stendhal 1839 French French
142 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
149 All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren 1946 American English
155 Macbeth William Shakespeare 1606 British English
169 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark 1961 British, Scottish English
172 Man's Fate Andre Malraux 1933 French French
176 The End of the Affair Graham Greene 1951 British English
188 A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens 1859 British English
210 Dangerous Liaison Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 1782 French French
211 The Tempest William Shakespeare 1623 British English
212 Darkness at Noon Arthur Koestler 1940 British German
226 The Alexandria Quartet Lawrence Durrell 1957 British English
233 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold John le Carré 1963 British English
242 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
249 A Hero of Our Time Mikhail Lermontov 1840 Russian Russian
251 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
272 The Devil to Pay in the Backlands Joao Guimaraes Rosa 1956 Brazilian Portuguese
273 The Betrothed Alessandro Manzoni 1827 Italian Italian
279 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
283 Nostromo Joseph Conrad 1904 British English
285 Oresteia Aeschylus -458 Greek Ancient greek
307 Medea Euripides -431 Greek Ancient greek
332 Clarissa Samuel Richardson 1748 British English
343 The Sonnets William Shakespeare 1609 British English
358 The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy 1886 British English
363 The Left Hand Of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin 1969 American English
376 The Golden Bowl Henry James 1904 American English
381 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis 1950 British English
385 Quo Vadis Henryk Sienkiewicz 1895 Polish Polish
397 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel 2009 British English
399 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman 1995 British English
401 Celestina Or The Tragic-Comedy Of Calisto And Melibea Fernando de Rojas 1499 Spanish Spanish
409 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
426 The Moon and the Bonfires Cesare Pavese 1950 Italian Italian
428 Death Of A Salesman Arthur Miller 1949 American English
437 Passing Nella Larsen 1929 American English
446 Joseph and His Brothers Thomas Mann 1933 German German
448 Homage to Catalonia George Orwell 1938 British English
453 I, Claudius Robert Graves 1934 British English
467 A Handful of Dust Evelyn Waugh 1934 British English
470 The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad 1907 British English
474 Embers Sandor Marai 1942 Hungarian Hungarian
489 Manon Lescaut Abbe Prevost 1731 French French
495 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
502 Another Country James Baldwin 1962 American English
507 The Last of the Mohicans James Fenimore Cooper 1826 American English
523 Fortunata and Jacinta Benito Pérez Galdós 1887 Spanish Spanish
533 Cousin Bette Honoré de Balzac 1846 French French
539 So Long, See You Tomorrow William Maxwell 1980 American English
541 The Seven Pillars of Wisdom T. E. Lawrence 1926 British English
548 Le Morte d'Arthur Thomas Malory 1485 British Middle english
558 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Alexander Brown 1970 American English
560 Sula Toni Morrison 1973 American English
569 The Death of the Heart Elizabeth Bowen 1938 British, Irish English
571 And Quiet Flows The Don Mikhail Sholokhov 1928 Russian Russian
586 The Third Man Graham Greene 1949 British English
588 The Pillars Of The Earth Ken Follett 1989 British English
602 The Go-Between L. P. Hartley 1953 British English
632 Dom Casmurro Machado de Assis 1899 Brazilian Portuguese
633 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
637 The Quiet American Graham Greene 1955 British English
644 The English Patient Michael Ondaatje 1992 Canadian English
658 Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner 1971 American English
674 Far from the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy 1874 British English
676 The Princess Bride William Goldman 1973 American English
687 The Time of the Hero Mario Vargas Llosa 1963 Peruvian Spanish
688 From Here to Eternity James Jones 1951 American English
699 The Nibelungenlied Unknown 1200 German Middle high german
705 Oroonoko Aphra Behn 1688 British English
740 Silence Shūsaku Endō 1966 Japanese Japanese
742 The Crime of Father Amaro Eça de Queirós 1875 Portuguese Portuguese
757 The Adventures of Caleb Williams William Godwin 1794 British English
765 The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough 1977 Australian English
783 Anabasis Xenophon -390 Greek Ancient greek
786 The Far Pavilions Mary Margaret Kaye 1978 British English
802 Romance of the Three Kingdoms Guanzhong Luo 1400 Chinese Chinese
810 Amadis of Gaul Garci R. de Montalvo 1508 Spanish Spanish
853 Mc Teague Frank Norris 1899 American English
856 Conversation in the Cathedral Mario Vargas Llosa 1969 Peruvian Spanish
892 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 2003 Afghan English
899 Stoner John Williams 1965 American English
922 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 American English
929 Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet 1943 French French
930 The Seven Madmen Roberto Arlt 1929 Argentinian Spanish
938 Burger's Daughter Nadine Gordimer 1979 South African English
950 Richard III William Shakespeare 1592 British English
959 A Tomb for Boris Davidovich Danilo Kiš 1976 Serbian Serbo-croatian
967 The Heat of the Day Elizabeth Bowen 1949 British English
970 The Maias Eça de Queirós 1888 Portuguese Portuguese
972 The Orlando Furioso Lodovico Ariosto 1516 Italian Italian
978 The History Of Henry Esmond William Makepeace Thackeray 1852 British English
986 Electra Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
987 Harriet the Spy Louise Fitzhugh 1964 American English
1000 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
1010 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
1015 Justine Lawrence Durrell 1957 British English
1017 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban J. K. Rowling 1999 British English
1057 The Master of Ballantrae Robert Louis Stevenson 1889 British English
1066 Antony And Cleopatra William Shakespeare 1606 British English
1087 Home and the World Rabindranath Tagore 1916 Indian Bengali
1088 The Dwarf Par Lagerkvist 1944 Swedish Swedish
1091 Shahnameh Ferdowsi 1010 Iranian Persian