The Greatest Drama 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 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.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
2408 That They May Face the Rising Sun John McGahern 2002 Irish English
2409 The Joys Of Motherhood Buchi Emecheta 1979 Nigerian English
2422 Galileo Bertolt Brecht 1938 German German
2427 A View From The Bridge Arthur Miller 1955 American English
2429 The Physicists Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1962 Swiss German
2432 The Forever War Joe Haldeman 1974 American English
2434 Modern Times Paul Johnson 1983 British English
2436 The Railway Children Edith Nesbit 1906 British English
2446 The Rector's Daughter F. M. Mayor 1924 British English
2449 Henry V William Shakespeare 1600 British English
2451 Joy in the Morning P. G. Wodehouse 1946 British English
2454 Frost In May Antonia White 1933 British English
2467 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
2474 Essays And Criticism William Hazlitt 1823 British English
2485 Small Island Andrea Levy 2004 British English
2489 Murder In The Cathedral T. S. Eliot 1935 British English
2490 The Moon And Sixpence W. Somerset Maugham 1919 British English
2492 All Souls Javier Marias 1989 Spanish Spanish
2493 Miramar Naguib Mahfouz 1967 Egyptian Arabic
2500 Rebellion In The Backlands Euclides da Cunha 1902 Brazilian Portuguese
2505 Memoirs of Louis XIV Louis de Rouvroy Saint-Simon (duc de) 1740 French French
2519 A Flight Of Curlews Maarten 't Hart 1978 Dutch Dutch
2522 The Passage Of Power Robert Caro 2012 American English
2533 A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman 2012 Swedish Swedish
2536 Jazz Toni Morrison 1992 American English
2537 Clear Light of Day Anita Desai 1980 Indian English
2541 The Artamonov Business Maxim Gorky 1925 Russian Russian
2542 Camilla Fanny Burney 1796 British English
2543 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Winifred Watson 1938 British English
2546 The Thinking Reed Rebecca West 1936 British English
2547 Bosnian Chronicle Ivo Andrić 1945 Bosnian Serbo-croatian
2554 Amok Stefan Zweig 1922 Austrian German
2558 Pharaoh Bolesław Prus 1895 Polish Polish
2556 Keep the Aspidistra Flying George Orwell 1936 British English
2564 The Family Of Pascual Duarte Camilo José Cela 1942 Spanish Spanish
2574 The Hedgehog and the Fox Isaiah Berlin 1953 British English
2586 Empire Falls Richard Russo 2001 American English
2589 Sir Charles Grandison Samuel Richardson 1753 British English
2590 The Trick Is to Keep Breathing Janice Galloway 1989 British English
2593 Tales Of Hulan River Xiao Hong 1942 Chinese Chinese
2595 Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Jeanette Winterson 2011 British English
2604 The Conservationist Nadine Gordimer 1974 South African English
2610 What It Takes Richard Ben Cramer 1992 American English
2611 The Winter's Tale William Shakespeare 1623 British English
2614 The Merchant of Venice William Shakespeare 1600 British English
2615 The Rise Of Silas Lapham William Dean Howells 1885 American English
2625 The Captain's Daughter Alexander Pushkin 1836 Russian Russian
2627 Selected Plays of George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw 1976 Irish English
2628 Valley of the Dolls Jacqueline Susann 1966 American English
2630 The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Bertolt Brecht 1941 German German
2636 The Lament Of The Linnet Anna Maria Ortese 1997 Italian Italian
2646 Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor 2017 Mexican Spanish
2661 Daughters of Fire Gerard de Nerval 1854 French French
2673 Microbe Hunters Paul de Kruif 1926 American English
2680 El Día Del Watusi Francisco Casavella 2002 Spanish Spanish
2684 Selected Plays of Henrick Ibsen Henrik Ibsen 1900 Norwegian Norwegian
2696 Wise Children Angela Carter 1991 British English
2698 Cod Mark Kurlansky 1997 American English
2704 My Brilliant Career Miles Franklin 1901 Australian English
2714 Coriolanus William Shakespeare 1608 British English
2719 Richard Ii William Shakespeare 1595 British English
2723 A Man For All Seasons Robert Bolt 1960 American English
2737 Look Back In Anger John Osborne 1956 British English
2741 Jerusalem Selma Lagerlöf 1901 Swedish Swedish
2780 Mist Miguel de Unamuno 1914 Spanish English
2783 North Of Boston Robert Frost 1914 American English
2789 The Weavers Gerhart Hauptmann 1892 German German
2792 Soft Soap Willem Elsschot 1931 Belgian Dutch
2794 Small Souls Louis Couperus 1901 Dutch Dutch
2800 Collected Plays Of Euripides Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
2801 The Old Devils Kingsley Amis 1986 British English
2804 Fates and Furies Lauren Groff 2015 American English
2810 The Agony and the Ecstasy Irving Stone 1961 American English
2815 The Belkin Tales Alexander Pushkin 1831 Russian Russian
2817 The Great Fire Shirley Hazzard 2003 Australian English
2826 A Manual For Cleaning Women Lucia Berlin 2015 American English
2841 Children of Crisis Robert Coles 1967 American English
2854 The Bottle Factory Outing Beryl Bainbridge 1974 British English
2859 A Ballad for Georg Henig Viktor Paskov 1987 Bulgarian Bulgarian
2864 Endgame Samuel Beckett 1957 Irish French
2866 The Story Of The Lost Child Elena Ferrante 2014 Italian Italian
2867 House Made of Dawn N. Scott Momaday 1968 American English
2869 Strophic Poems Hadewijch 1250 Dutch Middle dutch
2879 The Comedy Of Errors William Shakespeare 1594 British English
2880 The Diary of Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys 1825 British English
2892 The Caretaker Harold Pinter 1960 British English
2895 Teahouse Lao She 1957 Chinese Chinese
2897 Indigo Beverly Jenkins 1996 American English
2901 Cremation Rafael Chirbes 2007 Spanish Spanish
2903 What I Loved Siri Hustvedt 2003 American English
2907 Love Life Zeruya Shalev 2000 Israeli Hebrew
2909 Villa Des Roses Willem Elsschot 1913 Belgian Dutch
2928 Unless Carol Shields 2002 Canadian English
2938 Tales Of A Traveller Washington Irving 1824 American English
2950 Some Hope Edward St Aubyn 1994 British English
2957 The Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai 2006 Indian English
2958 The Lower Depths Maxim Gorky 1902 Russian Russian
2966 The Sea John Banville 2005 Irish English
2965 In A Dark Wood Wandering Hella S. Haasse 1949 Dutch Dutch
2968 A Dream Play August Strindberg 1902 Swedish Swedish
2980 The Man of Property John Galsworthy 1906 British English
2990 The Tale Of Igor's Campaign Unknown 1187 Russian Old east slavic
2996 Childhood Leo Tolstoy 1852 Russian Russian
3014 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 1990 American English
3017 The Old Men At The Zoo Angus Wilson 1961 British English
3019 Before Lunch Angela Thirkell 1939 British English
3021 The Echoing Grove Rosamond Lehmann 1953 British English
3035 Less Than Angels Barbara Pym 1955 British English
3041 The Good Companions J. B. Priestley 1929 British English
3041 East Lynne Ellen Wood 1861 British English
3039 Manservant And Maidservant Ivy Compton-Burnett 1947 British English
3049 A World for Julius Alfredo Bryce Echenique 1970 Peruvian Spanish
3051 Our Town Thornton Wilder 1938 American English
3066 Montaillou Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie 1975 French French
3076 Once Were Warriors Alan Duff 1990 New Zealand English
3080 Waiting For Lefty Clifford Odets 1935 American English
3105 Foreign Affairs Alison Lurie 1984 American English
3106 Alcestis Euripides -438 Greek Ancient greek
3114 Foster Claire Keegan 2010 Irish English
3126 Daisy Miller Henry James 1878 American English