The Greatest Domestic 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 464 '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
100 Emma Jane Austen 1815 British English
120 The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath 1963 American English
143 Rabbit, Run John Updike 1960 American English
182 White Teeth Zadie Smith 2000 British English
213 The Corrections Jonathan Franzen 2001 American English
223 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro 1989 British English
256 Song of Solomon Toni Morrison 1977 American English
305 The Stories of John Cheever John Cheever 1978 American English
312 Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson 1980 American English
317 The Old Wives' Tale Arnold Bennett 1908 British English
374 The Man Who Loved Children Christina Stead 1940 Australian English
412 Passing Nella Larsen 1929 American English
433 Play It As It Lays Joan Didion 1970 American English
459 Another Country James Baldwin 1962 American English
468 Rabbit Redux John Updike 1971 American English
507 The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison 1970 American English
517 Excellent Women Barbara Pym 1952 British English
550 Rabbit Is Rich John Updike 1981 American English
616 Love Medicine Louise Erdrich 1984 American English
619 Loving Henry Green 1945 British English
631 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2011 Italian Italian
663 Revolutionary Road Richard Yates 1961 American English
684 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
749 Rabbit at Rest John Updike 1990 American English
775 Peyton Place Grace Metalious 1956 American English
785 The Country Girls Edna O'Brien 1960 Irish English
793 Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver 1988 American English
872 The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri 2003 American English
911 Valley of the Dolls Jacqueline Susann 1966 American English
923 What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Raymond Carver 1981 American English
985 Birds of America Lorrie Moore 1998 American English
1030 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout 2008 American English
1033 Stoner John Williams 1965 American English
1072 Annie John Jamaica Kincaid 1985 Antiguan English
1108 The Women of Brewster Place Gloria Naylor 1982 American English
1111 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward 2017 American English
1136 Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward 2011 American English
1179 Cranford Elizabeth Gaskell 1851 British English
1203 The Group Mary McCarthy 1963 American English
1222 The Stone Diaries Carol Shields 1993 Canadian English
1225 Normal People Sally Rooney 2018 American English
1357 Runaway Alice Munro 2004 Canadian English
1371 Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage Alice Munro 2001 Canadian English
1408 Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Anne Tyler 1982 American English
1481 The Sound of the Mountain Yasunari Kawabata 1954 Japanese Japanese
1507 Waiting to Exhale Terry McMillan 1992 American English
1524 The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides 1993 American English
1638 Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont Elizabeth Taylor 1971 British English
1651 Amongst Women John McGahern 1990 Irish English
1667 Who Do You Think You Are? Alice Munro 1978 Canadian English
1695 Clear Light of Day Anita Desai 1980 Indian English
1722 Cloudstreet Tim Winton 1991 Australian English
1736 To the North Elizabeth Bowen 1932 British English
1736 A Day Off Storm Jameson 1933 British English
1798 Édes Anna Dezső Kosztolányi 1926 Hungarian Hungarian
1861 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
1942 Brooklyn Colm Toibin 2009 Irish English
2001 The Transit of Venus Shirley Hazzard 1980 Australian English
2023 Mrs. Bridge Evan S. Connell 1959 American English
2132 Home Marilynne Robinson 2008 American English
2176 An American Marriage Tayari Jones 2018 American English
2389 Mother's Milk Edward St Aubyn 2005 British English
2409 The Cat Colette 1933 French French
2494 Empire Falls Richard Russo 2001 American English
2504 The Rector's Daughter F. M. Mayor 1924 British English
2550 Edith's Diary Patricia Highsmith 1977 American English
2564 Family Life Akhil Sharma 2014 Indian English
2617 The Neapolitan Novels Elena Ferrante 2011 Italian Italian
2799 Quartet in Autumn Barbara Pym 1977 British English
2875 A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini 2007 Afghan English
2940 Independence Day Richard Ford 1995 American English
2979 Desperate Characters Paula Fox 1970 American English
3028 The Radiant Way Margaret Drabble 1987 British English
3091 The Evenings Gerard Reve 1947 Dutch Dutch
3175 Monkey Grip Helen Garner 1977 Australian English
3191 Four Generations Under One Roof Lao She 1944 Chinese Chinese
3199 The Luminous Novel Mario Levrero 2005 Uruguayan Spanish
3206 Chapel Road Louis-Paul Boon 1953 Belgian Dutch
3222 The Accidental Tourist Anne Tyler 1985 American English
3303 Women And Appletrees Moa Martinson 1933 Swedish Swedish
3400 Like Life Lorrie Moore 1990 American English
3411 The Progress of Love Alice Munro 1986 Canadian English
3416 A Curtain Of Green Eudora Welty 1941 American English
3440 The Days Of Abandonment Elena Ferrante 2002 Italian Italian
3490 The Children's Bach Helen Garner 1984 Australian English
3516 Small Souls Louis Couperus 1901 Dutch Dutch
3522 Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng 2017 American English
3606 The Prince of Tides Pat Conroy 1986 American English
3609 A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman 2012 Swedish Swedish
3612 Islanders Helen R. Hull 1927 American English
3795 Fates and Furies Lauren Groff 2015 American English
3841 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 2019 British English
3903 All My Puny Sorrows Miriam Toews 2014 Canadian English
3949 Netherland Joseph O'Neill 2008 Irish English
4041 The Help Kathryn Stockett 2009 American English
4267 Enigma Otiliei G. Călinescu 1938 Romanian Romanian
4256 Cecilia Fanny Burney 1782 British English
4358 Brick Lane Monica Ali 2003 British English
4502 Hotel du Lac Anita Brookner 1984 British English
4616 Crow Lake Mary Lawson 2002 Canadian English
4649 The Times Are Never So Bad Andre Dubus 1983 American English
4667 Brown Girl, Brownstones Paule Marshall 1959 American English
4735 Open Secrets Alice Munro 1994 Canadian English
4948 The Sportswriter Richard Ford 1986 American English
4959 Plainsong Kent Haruf 1999 American English
5045 Home Comforts Cheryl Mendelson 1999 American English
5054 Guten Morgen, Du Schöne Maxie Wander 1977 German German
5095 Purple America Rick Moody 1997 American English
5107 Everything I Never Told You Celeste Ng 2014 American English
5144 The Emperor's Children Claire Messud 2006 American English
5178 Variable Cloud Carmen Martín Gaite 1993 Spanish Spanish
5233 A Week Like Any Other Natalya Baranskaya 1969 Russian Russian
5398 The Man of Property John Galsworthy 1906 British English
5488 Before Lunch Angela Thirkell 1939 British English
5488 The Three Sisters May Sinclair 1914 British English
5651 The Gathering Anne Enright 2007 Irish English
Bear Marian Engel 1976 Canadian English
5811 The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett 2020 American English
5898 Seven Years Peter Stamm 2009 Swiss German
5904 The Marriage Plot Jeffrey Eugenides 2011 American English