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
1775 Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri 1999 American English
1784 Marks of Identity Juan Goytisolo 1966 Spanish Spanish
2135 Farewell To Matyora Valentin Rasputin 1976 Russian Russian
2185 In a Free State V. S. Naipaul 1971 Trinidadian English
2228 Exit West Mohsin Hamid 2017 Pakistani English
2487 Small Island Andrea Levy 2004 British English
2849 The Museum of Unconditional Surrender Dubravka Ugrešić 1997 Croatian Croatian
2850 What Is the What Dave Eggers 2006 American English
3057 The Enigma of Arrival V. S. Naipaul 1987 British English
3065 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
3860 Native Life In South Africa Sol Plaatje 1916 South African English
3954 Farewell Anatolia Dido Sotiriou 1962 Greek Greek
4491 Voyage In The Dark Jean Rhys 1934 British English
4555 When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit Judith Kerr 1971 German English
4663 The Swan Book Alexis Wright 2013 Australian English
4804 Dictee Theresa Hak Kyung Cha 1982 American English
5110 The Ministry Of Pain Dubravka Ugrešić 2004 Croatian Croatian
5338 Ellis Island Georges Perec 1980 French French
5461 The Yellow House Sarah M. Broom 2019 American English
5668 The Loser György Konrád 1980 Hungarian Hungarian
5939 Hurramabad Andrei Volos 1998 Russian Russian
5958 The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena Elsa Joubert 1978 South African Afrikaans
6005 Quai Des Grands Augustins Jean Rhys 1930 Unknown French
6174 Ludo Conrad Detrez 1974 Belgian French
6266 Sozaboy Ken Saro-Wiwa 1985 Nigerian English
6343 The Lost Country Luminița Cioabă 2002 Romanian Unknown
6698 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
7177 The Asylum Seeker Arnon Grunberg 2003 Dutch Dutch
7796 Sleepwalking Land Mia Couto 1992 Mozambican Portuguese
7820 Women Of Messina Elio Vittorini 1949 Italian Italian
8032 An Area Of Darkness V. S. Naipaul 1964 British English
8058 Palestine Hubert Haddad 1989 French French
8107 Ramona Helen Hunt Jackson 1884 American English
8167 In A State Of Memory Tununa Mercado 1990 Argentinian Spanish
8264 Rosie Carpe & Hilda Marie NDiaye 2001 French French
8285 Nowhere Man Aleksandar Hemon 2002 Bosnian English
8445 The Natashas Yelena Moskovich 2016 Russian English
8445 Panorama Dušan Šarotar 2016 Slovenian Slovene
8445 The Interim Wolfgang Hilbig 2000 German German
8491 The Book Of My Lives Aleksandar Hemon 2013 American English
9185 By The Sea Abdulrazak Gurnah 2001 British English
9249 Cities Of Salt Abd al-Rahman Munif 1984 Arabic Arabic
9762 The Armies Evelio Rosero 2007 Colombian Spanish
9964 Varieties Of Exile Mavis Gallant 2003 Canadian English
10011 Tamas Bhisham Sahni 1974 Indian Hindi
10110 Lose Your Mother Saidiya Hartman 2007 American English
10168 Harvest Jim Crace 2013 British English
10173 A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain Robert Olen Butler 1992 American English
10211 The Pegnitz Junction Mavis Gallant 1973 Canadian English
10291 I Was Born There, I Was Born Here Mourid Barghouti 2011 Palestinian Arabic
10405 Nice Big American Baby Judy Budnitz 2005 American English
10695 The Faraway World Patricia Engel 2023 American English
10903 The Hooligan's Return Norman Manea 2003 Romanian Romanian
11067 All The Wrong Places James Fenton 1994 British English
11085 The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen 2017 American English
11319 When The Emperor Was Divine Julie Otsuka 2002 American English
11883 Root And Branch Eda Gunaydin 2022 Unknown English
11900 Coming Home And Other Stories Farida Karodia 1988 South African English
12049 Irakisk Kristus Hassan Blasim 2009 Unknown Arabic
12062 O Tamanho Do Mundo António Lobo Antunes 2022 Portuguese Portuguese
12073 The Afghans Asne Seierstad, Seán Kinsella 2022 Norwegian English
12077 Basti Intizar Husain 1979 Pakistani Urdu
12496 This Mournable Body Tsitsi Dangarembga 2018 Zimbabwean English
12515 Typical American Gish Jen 1991 American English
12896 Orphan Of Asia Zhuoliu Wu 1945 Taiwanese Chinese
13316 Who Will Remember The People... Jean Raspail 1986 French French
13362 The Nowhere City Alison Lurie 1965 American English
14232 The Middleman and Other Stories Bharati Mukherjee 1988 Indian English
14985 Crossing The River Caryl Phillips 1993 British English
14985 From The Fifteenth District Mavis Gallant 1979 Canadian English
14985 How To Read The Air Dinaw Mengestu 2010 American English
15915 The Exodus Konrad Bercovici 1920 Unknown English
16623 Flotsam Erich Maria Remarque 1939 German German
17161 The Uprooted Oscar Handlin 1951 American English
17161 Baumgartner’s Bombay Anita Desai 1988 Indian English
17161 The Nature Of Blood Caryl Phillips 1997 British English
17161 Blood At The Root Patrick Phillips 2016 British English
17161 Return To Exile Abu El Maati Abu El Naga 1972 Egyptian Unknown
17161 Jisr Banat Yacoub Hassan Hamid 2017 Syrian Arabic
17161 The Global Soul Pico Iyer 2000 British English
16806 Capricornia Xavier Herbert 1938 Australian English
17161 The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow Elin Anna Labba, Fiona Graham 2020 Unknown Swedish
17161 An American Sunrise Joy Harjo 2019 American English
17161 Tūla Jurgis Kunčinas 1993 Lithuanian Lithuanian
17161 A Stranger In Your Own City Ghaith Abdul-Ahad 2023 Unknown English
17161 Out Of Mesopotamia Salar Abdoh 2020 Iranian English
17161 Last Boat Out Of Shanghai Zia, Helen 2019 Unknown English
17161 Yellow Book Amitava Kumar 2023 Unknown English
17161 Rituals Of Restlessness Yaghoub Yadali 2016 Iranian Persian
17161 The Great Displacement Jake Bittle 2023 Unknown English
17161 Daughter In Exile Bisi Adjapon 2023 Unknown English
17161 2 A.M. In Little America Ken Kalfus 2022 American English
17161 Motherland Paula Ramón 2020 Unknown English
17161 Mesopotamia Serhiy Zhadan 2014 Ukrainian Ukrainian
17161 The Long Take Robin Robertson 2018 British English
17161 Migratory Birds Mariana Oliver 2014 Mexican Spanish
17161 The Blue Between Sky And Water Susan Abulhawa 2015 American English