The Greatest Domestic, Drama, and Fiction Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 488 '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
155 Rabbit, Run John Updike 1960 American English
198 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro 1989 British English
330 The Old Wives' Tale Arnold Bennett 1908 British English
399 The Man Who Loved Children Christina Stead 1940 Australian English
513 Rabbit Redux John Updike 1971 American English
551 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2011 Italian Italian
571 Rabbit Is Rich John Updike 1981 American English
641 Love Medicine Louise Erdrich 1984 American English
662 Revolutionary Road Richard Yates 1961 American English
697 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
784 The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri 2003 American English
787 Stoner John Williams 1965 American English
793 Rabbit at Rest John Updike 1990 American English
922 Peyton Place Grace Metalious 1956 American English
944 The Women of Brewster Place Gloria Naylor 1982 American English
965 The Stone Diaries Carol Shields 1993 Canadian English
977 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout 2008 American English
1051 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward 2017 American English
1160 Annie John Jamaica Kincaid 1985 Antiguan English
1182 Valley of the Dolls Jacqueline Susann 1966 American English
1190 Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward 2011 American English
1233 Normal People Sally Rooney 2018 American English
1281 Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont Elizabeth Taylor 1971 British English
1448 The Sound of the Mountain Yasunari Kawabata 1954 Japanese Japanese
1486 Clear Light of Day Anita Desai 1980 Indian English
1556 Cloudstreet Tim Winton 1991 Australian English
1817 Brooklyn Colm Toibin 2009 Irish English
1937 An American Marriage Tayari Jones 2018 American English
1958 Empire Falls Richard Russo 2001 American English
2377 Home Marilynne Robinson 2008 American English
2608 Mother's Milk Edward St Aubyn 2005 British English
2674 The Neapolitan Novels Elena Ferrante 2011 Italian Italian
2777 The Rector's Daughter F. M. Mayor 1924 British English
2811 A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini 2007 Afghan English
3088 A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman 2012 Swedish Swedish
3239 Women And Appletrees Moa Martinson 1933 Swedish Swedish
3303 Fates and Furies Lauren Groff 2015 American English
3333 Independence Day Richard Ford 1995 American English
3493 Islanders Helen R. Hull 1927 American English
3703 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 2019 British English
3772 The Prince of Tides Pat Conroy 1986 American English
3846 The Help Kathryn Stockett 2009 American English
4243 Netherland Joseph O'Neill 2008 Irish English
4263 Hotel du Lac Anita Brookner 1984 British English
4298 All My Puny Sorrows Miriam Toews 2014 Canadian English
4459 Variable Cloud Carmen Martín Gaite 1993 Spanish Spanish
4481 Brick Lane Monica Ali 2003 British English
4543 Plainsong Kent Haruf 1999 American English
4552 Everything I Never Told You Celeste Ng 2014 American English
5041 Purple America Rick Moody 1997 American English
5063 The Emperor's Children Claire Messud 2006 American English
5139 A Week Like Any Other Natalya Baranskaya 1969 Russian Russian
5256 After You’d Gone Maggie O'Farrell 2000 British English
5765 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Jonathan Safran Foer 2005 American English
6006 The Eye Of The Storm Patrick White 1973 Australian English
6046 The Sportswriter Richard Ford 1986 American English
6443 Seven Years Peter Stamm 2009 Swiss German
6461 Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart 2020 Scottish English
6650 The Slap Christos Tsiolkas 2008 Australian English
7080 Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson 1995 British English
7261 The Lay Of The Land Richard Ford 2006 American English
7483 The Spectator Bird Wallace Stegner 1976 American English
7701 Raise The Red Lantern Su Tong 1990 Chinese Chinese
7769 Tropical Night Falling Manuel Puig 1988 Argentinian Spanish
7854 The Barracks John McGahern 1963 Irish English
8071 Clavícula Marta Sanz 2015 Spanish Spanish
8301 The Woman Upstairs Claire Messud 2013 American English
8419 Behold the Dreamers Imbolo Mbue 2016 Cameroonian English
8634 Break Of Day Colette 1928 French French
8807 Custody Of The Eyes Diamela Eltit 1994 Chilean Spanish
8934 All The Little Live Things Wallace Stegner 1967 American English
8948 My Name Is Lucy Barton Elizabeth Strout 2016 American English
8969 The Woman Destroyed Simone de Beauvoir 1967 French French
9111 The Child in Time Ian McEwan 1987 British English
9136 Imagine Me Gone Adam Haslett 2016 American English
9694 Union Street Pat Barker 1982 British English
10767 Dirt Music Tim Winton 2001 Australian English
10778 The Wife Meg Wolitzer 2003 American English
10804 Three Junes Julia Glass 2002 American English
10855 Boy, Snow, Bird Helen Oyeyemi 2014 British English
11086 Death In Summer William Trevor 1998 Irish English
11539 In This Our Life Ellen Glasgow 1941 American English
11686 Miss Mole E. H. Young 1930 British English
12352 Animal Dreams Barbara Kingsolver 1990 American English
13025 A Modern Instance William Dean Howells 1882 American English
13255 Anything Is Possible Elizabeth Strout 2017 American English
13497 H. M. Pulham, Esquire John P. Marquand 1941 American English
14371 Kaaterskill Falls Allegra Goodman 1998 American English
14371 The Ice Storm Rick Moody 1994 American English
14371 A Jest Of God Margaret Laurence 1966 Canadian English
14371 Motherhood Sheila Heti 2018 Canadian English