The Greatest Books of All Time on Displacement

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
262 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
558 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Dee Alexander Brown 1970 American English
732 A Bend in the River V. S. Naipaul 1979 Trinidadian English
989 The Lonely Londoners Sam Selvon 1956 Trinidadian English
1023 Transit Anna Seghers 1944 German German
1774 Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri 1999 American English
1784 Marks of Identity Juan Goytisolo 1966 Spanish Spanish
2134 Farewell To Matyora Valentin Rasputin 1976 Russian Russian
2184 In a Free State V. S. Naipaul 1971 Trinidadian English
2227 Exit West Mohsin Hamid 2017 Pakistani English
2485 Small Island Andrea Levy 2004 British English
2846 The Museum of Unconditional Surrender Dubravka Ugrešić 1997 Croatian Croatian
2847 What Is the What Dave Eggers 2006 American English
3055 The Enigma of Arrival V. S. Naipaul 1987 British English
3063 The Secret River Kate Grenville 2005 Australian English
3324 Retreat Without Song Shahan Shahnur 1929 Armenian Armenian
3419 Taipei People Pai Hsien-yung 1971 Chinese Chinese
3624 Sepharad Antonio Muñoz Molina 2001 Spanish Spanish
3638 The Return and Other Stories Andrey Platonov 1946 Russian Russian
3638 White Shroud Antanas Škėma 1958 Lithuanian Lithuanian
3638 Exile Lion Feuchtwanger 1940 German German
3638 The Man Outside Wolfgang Borchert 1947 German German
3861 Native Life In South Africa Sol Plaatje 1916 South African English
3953 Farewell Anatolia Dido Sotiriou 1962 Greek Greek
4488 Voyage In The Dark Jean Rhys 1934 British English
4553 When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit Judith Kerr 1971 German English
4661 The Swan Book Alexis Wright 2013 Australian English
4802 Dictee Theresa Hak Kyung Cha 1982 American English
5107 The Ministry Of Pain Dubravka Ugrešić 2004 Croatian Croatian
5336 Ellis Island Georges Perec 1980 French French
5458 The Yellow House Sarah M. Broom 2019 American English
5665 The Loser György Konrád 1980 Hungarian Hungarian
5935 Hurramabad Andrei Volos 1998 Russian Russian
5954 The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena Elsa Joubert 1978 South African Afrikaans
6002 Quai Des Grands Augustins Jean Rhys 1930 Unknown French
6171 Ludo Conrad Detrez 1974 Belgian French
6263 Sozaboy Ken Saro-Wiwa 1985 Nigerian English
6340 The Lost Country Luminița Cioabă 2002 Romanian Unknown
6697 Landscapes After the Battle Juan Goytisolo 1982 Spanish Spanish
6926 The Hundred Years’ War On Palestine Rashid Khalidi 2020 American English
7086 A Short Border Handbook Gazmend Kapllani 2009 Greek Albanian
7176 The Asylum Seeker Arnon Grunberg 2003 Dutch Dutch
7794 Sleepwalking Land Mia Couto 1992 Mozambican Portuguese
7819 Women Of Messina Elio Vittorini 1949 Italian Italian
8031 An Area Of Darkness V. S. Naipaul 1964 British English
8057 Palestine Hubert Haddad 1989 French French
8105 Ramona Helen Hunt Jackson 1884 American English
8165 In A State Of Memory Tununa Mercado 1990 Argentinian Spanish
8262 Rosie Carpe & Hilda Marie NDiaye 2001 French French
8283 Nowhere Man Aleksandar Hemon 2002 Bosnian English
8441 The Natashas Yelena Moskovich 2016 Russian English
8441 Panorama Dušan Šarotar 2016 Slovenian Slovene
8441 The Interim Wolfgang Hilbig 2000 German German
8486 The Book Of My Lives Aleksandar Hemon 2013 American English
9181 By The Sea Abdulrazak Gurnah 2001 British English
9245 Cities Of Salt Abd al-Rahman Munif 1984 Arabic Arabic
9759 The Armies Evelio Rosero 2007 Colombian Spanish
9960 Varieties Of Exile Mavis Gallant 2003 Canadian English
10007 Tamas Bhisham Sahni 1974 Indian Hindi
10105 Lose Your Mother Saidiya Hartman 2007 American English
10164 Harvest Jim Crace 2013 British English
10206 The Pegnitz Junction Mavis Gallant 1973 Canadian English
10286 I Was Born There, I Was Born Here Mourid Barghouti 2011 Palestinian Arabic
10400 Nice Big American Baby Judy Budnitz 2005 American English
10689 The Faraway World Patricia Engel 2023 American English
10897 The Hooligan's Return Norman Manea 2003 Romanian Romanian
11061 All The Wrong Places James Fenton 1994 British English
11079 The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen 2017 American English
11313 When The Emperor Was Divine Julie Otsuka 2002 American English
11449 A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain Robert Olen Butler 1992 American English
11882 Root And Branch Eda Gunaydin 2022 Unknown English
11899 Coming Home And Other Stories Farida Karodia 1988 South African English
12048 Irakisk Kristus Hassan Blasim 2009 Unknown Arabic
12061 O Tamanho Do Mundo António Lobo Antunes 2022 Portuguese Portuguese
12072 The Afghans Asne Seierstad, Seán Kinsella 2022 Norwegian English
12076 Basti Intizar Husain 1979 Pakistani Urdu
12494 This Mournable Body Tsitsi Dangarembga 2018 Zimbabwean English
12513 Typical American Gish Jen 1991 American English
12894 Orphan Of Asia Zhuoliu Wu 1945 Taiwanese Chinese
13313 Who Will Remember The People... Jean Raspail 1986 French French
13359 The Nowhere City Alison Lurie 1965 American English
14232 The Middleman and Other Stories Bharati Mukherjee 1988 Indian English
14983 Crossing The River Caryl Phillips 1993 British English
14983 From The Fifteenth District Mavis Gallant 1979 Canadian English
14983 How To Read The Air Dinaw Mengestu 2010 American English
15897 The Exodus Konrad Bercovici 1920 Unknown English
17117 The Uprooted Oscar Handlin 1951 American English
17117 Baumgartner’s Bombay Anita Desai 1988 Indian English
17117 The Nature Of Blood Caryl Phillips 1997 British English
17117 Blood At The Root Patrick Phillips 2016 British English
17117 Return To Exile Abu El Maati Abu El Naga 1972 Egyptian Unknown
17117 Jisr Banat Yacoub Hassan Hamid 2017 Syrian Arabic
17117 The Global Soul Pico Iyer 2000 British English
16764 Capricornia Xavier Herbert 1938 Australian English
17117 The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow Elin Anna Labba, Fiona Graham 2020 Unknown Swedish
17117 An American Sunrise Joy Harjo 2019 American English
17117 Tūla Jurgis Kunčinas 1993 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17117 A Stranger In Your Own City Ghaith Abdul-Ahad 2023 Unknown English
17117 Out Of Mesopotamia Salar Abdoh 2020 Iranian English
17117 Last Boat Out Of Shanghai Zia, Helen 2019 Unknown English
17117 Yellow Book Amitava Kumar 2023 Unknown English
17117 Rituals Of Restlessness Yaghoub Yadali 2016 Iranian Persian
17117 The Great Displacement Jake Bittle 2023 Unknown English
17117 Daughter In Exile Bisi Adjapon 2023 Unknown English
17117 2 A.M. In Little America Ken Kalfus 2022 American English
17117 Motherland Paula Ramón 2020 Unknown English
17117 Mesopotamia Serhiy Zhadan 2014 Ukrainian Ukrainian
17117 The Long Take Robin Robertson 2018 British English
17117 Migratory Birds Mariana Oliver 2014 Mexican Spanish
17117 The Blue Between Sky And Water Susan Abulhawa 2015 American English
16812 Flotsam Erich Maria Remarque 1939 German German