The Greatest Books of All Time on Class

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 743 '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
3 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald 1925 American English
9 The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner 1929 American English
12 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen 1813 British English
28 Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë 1847 British English
32 Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf 1925 British English
41 The Red and the Black Stendhal 1830 French French
59 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier 1938 British English
92 The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton 1920 American English
104 Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray 1847 British English
135 Tom Jones Henry Fielding 1749 British English
141 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh 1945 British English
144 Sons and Lovers D. H. Lawrence 1913 British English
191 Oblomov Ivan Goncharov 1859 Russian Russian
195 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
196 Howards End E. M. Forster 1910 British English
197 Lady Chatterley's Lover D. H. Lawrence 1928 British English
199 The Radetzky March Joseph Roth 1932 Austrian German
204 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro 1989 British English
218 The House of Mirth Edith Wharton 1905 American English
243 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith 1943 American English
248 Atonement Ian McEwan 2001 British English
281 Nostromo Joseph Conrad 1904 British English
285 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy 1895 British English
288 A Room With a View E. M. Forster 1908 British English
290 The House of the Spirits Isabel Allende 1982 Chilean Spanish
329 A Dance to the Music of Time Anthony Powell 1951 British English
339 The Human Comedy Honoré de Balzac 1830 French French
340 Sister Carrie Theodore Dreiser 1900 American English
382 Parade's End Ford Madox Ford 1924 British English
407 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
425 The Moon and the Bonfires Cesare Pavese 1950 Italian Italian
441 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
484 Dream of the Red Chamber Cao Xueqin 1754 Chinese Chinese
487 Rainbow D.H. Lawrence 1915 British English
503 Pamela Samuel Richardson 1740 British English
520 Mansfield Park Jane Austen 1814 British English
529 The Red Room August Strindberg 1879 Swedish Swedish
565 I Served The King Of England Bohumil Hrabal 1983 Czech Czech
575 I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith 1948 British English
597 The Years Annie Ernaux 2008 French French
599 A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams 1947 American English
602 The Go-Between L. P. Hartley 1953 British English
646 Manhattan Transfer John Dos Passos 1925 American English
662 The Siege of Krishnapur J. G. Farrell 1973 British English
688 Them Joyce Carol Oates 1969 American English
722 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
734 Loving Henry Green 1945 British English
748 A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth 1993 Indian English
760 Goodbye to Berlin Christopher Isherwood 1939 British English
813 Cranford Elizabeth Gaskell 1851 British English
844 Evelina Fanny Burney 1778 British English
855 Conversation in the Cathedral Mario Vargas Llosa 1969 Peruvian Spanish
877 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov 1904 Russian Russian
934 Martin Eden Jack London 1909 American English
940 Collected Essays of George Orwell George Orwell 1968 British English
953 Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw 1913 British English
988 The Grass Is Singing Doris May Lessing 1950 British English
991 Joseph Andrews Henry Fielding 1742 British English
1048 The Buddha of Suburbia Hanif Kureishi 1990 British English
1054 Maurice E. M. Forster 1971 British English
1093 The Swimming-Pool Library Alan Hollinghurst 1988 British English
1154 Three Lives Gertrude Stein 1909 American English
1178 Living Henry Green 1929 British English
1202 Nickel And Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich 2001 American English
1206 Love in a Cold Climate Nancy Mitford 1949 British English
1209 Normal People Sally Rooney 2018 Irish English
1217 The Return of the Soldier Rebecca West 1918 British English
1232 Cheri Colette 1920 French French
1260 The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood 2000 Canadian English
1322 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1448 Suite Française Irène Némirovsky 2004 French French
1452 History And Class Consciousness Georg Lukacs 1923 German German
1460 Never Mind Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
1468 Last Afternoons With Teresa Juan Marsé 1966 Spanish Spanish
1470 Aurélien Louis Aragon 1944 French French
1475 Flatland Edwin A. Abbott 1884 British English
1482 Tono Bungay H. G. Wells 1909 British English
1489 The Garden Party And Other Stories Katherine Mansfield 1922 New Zealand English
1515 The People of Hemsö August Strindberg 1887 Swedish Swedish
1547 Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont Elizabeth Taylor 1971 British English
1564 Love In A Fallen City Eileen Chang 1943 Chinese Chinese
1604 The Loneliness of the Long-distance Runner Alan Sillitoe 1959 British English
1607 Crome Yellow Aldous Huxley 1921 British English
1614 The Pursuit Of Love Nancy Mitford 1945 British English
1634 The Collector John Fowles 1963 British English
1749 NW Zadie Smith 2012 British English
1774 The Strudlhof Steps Heimito von Doderer 1951 German German
1777 Juno And The Paycock Sean O'Casey 1924 Irish English
1785 Heartbreak House George Bernard Shaw 1919 British English
1851 July's People Nadine Gordimer 1981 South African English
1856 A Lost Lady Willa Cather 1923 American English
1866 The Woodlanders Thomas Hardy 1887 British English
1914 Group Portrait with Lady Heinrich Böll 1971 German German
1916 The Lady Of The Camellias Alexandre Dumas 1848 French French
2075 A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett 1905 British English
2199 Swordspoint Ellen Kushner 1987 American English
2299 The Old Forest Peter Taylor 1985 American English
2305 Room At The Top John Braine 1957 British English
2307 Ship Of Fools Katherine Anne Porter 1962 American English
2355 Sybil Benjamin Disraeli 1845 British English
2365 Put Out More Flags Evelyn Waugh 1942 British English
2395 The Charwoman's Daughter James Stephens 1912 Irish English
2412 The Age of Jackson Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr 1945 American English
2442 Blindness Henry Green 1926 British English
2456 Men At Arms Evelyn Waugh 1952 British English
2513 Rites of Passage William Golding 1980 British English
2539 Camilla Fanny Burney 1796 British English
2543 The Thinking Reed Rebecca West 1936 British English
2555 Keep the Aspidistra Flying George Orwell 1936 British English
2580 Good Behaviour Molly Keane 1981 Irish English
2595 A Fringe Of Leaves Patrick White 1976 Australian English
2602 The Conservationist Nadine Gordimer 1974 South African English
2615 The Neapolitan Novels Elena Ferrante 2011 Italian Italian
2659 Debit And Credit Gustav Freytag 1855 German German
2730 A Violent Life Pier Paolo Pasolini 1959 Italian Italian
2795 Delta Wedding Eudora Welty 1946 American English
2848 Goodbye, Columbus Philip Roth 1959 American English
2849 The Bottle Factory Outing Beryl Bainbridge 1974 British English
2878 The Busconductor Hines James Kelman 1984 British English
2944 Some Hope Edward St Aubyn 1994 British English