The Greatest Drama Books Since 1990

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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
221 White Teeth Zadie Smith 2000 British English
237 The Corrections Jonathan Franzen 2001 American English
255 Disgrace J. M. Coetzee 1999 South African English
279 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
359 The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy 1997 Indian English
396 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz 2007 Dominican English
397 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel 2009 British English
409 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
420 The Human Stain Philip Roth 2000 American English
421 A Visit From The Goon Squad Jennifer Egan 2010 American English
443 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
488 The Shipping News Annie Proulx 1993 Canadian English
549 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry 1995 Indian English
574 The Known World Edward P. Jones 2003 American English
892 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 2003 Afghan English
898 My Struggle Karl Ove Knausgård 2009 Norwegian Norwegian
947 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
1000 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
1261 The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood 2000 Canadian English
1408 Amongst Women John McGahern 1990 Irish English
1484 Independence Day Richard Ford 1995 American English
1610 The Hours Michael Cunningham 1998 American English
1684 Train Dreams Denis Johnson 2002 American English
1748 The Fox Was Ever The Hunter Herta Müller 1992 German German
1844 The Sixth Extinction Elizabeth Kolbert 2014 American English
1876 Home Marilynne Robinson 2008 American English
1917 In the Time of the Butterflies Julia Alvarez 1994 Dominican English
1934 Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernières 1994 British English
1958 Let the Great World Spin Colum McCann 2009 Irish English
2101 Tree of Smoke Denis Johnson 2007 American English
2114 All Souls' Day Cees Nooteboom 1998 Dutch Dutch
2244 The Gathering Anne Enright 2007 Irish English
2285 The Crossing Cormac McCarthy 1994 American English
2317 To The End Of The Land David Grossman 2008 Israeli Hebrew
2357 The Butcher Boy Patrick McCabe 1992 Irish English
2409 That They May Face the Rising Sun John McGahern 2002 Irish English
2468 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
2486 Small Island Andrea Levy 2004 British English
2523 The Passage Of Power Robert Caro 2012 American English
2534 A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman 2012 Swedish Swedish
2537 Jazz Toni Morrison 1992 American English
2587 Empire Falls Richard Russo 2001 American English
2596 Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Jeanette Winterson 2011 British English
2611 What It Takes Richard Ben Cramer 1992 American English
2637 The Lament Of The Linnet Anna Maria Ortese 1997 Italian Italian
2647 Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor 2017 Mexican Spanish
2681 El Día Del Watusi Francisco Casavella 2002 Spanish Spanish
2697 Wise Children Angela Carter 1991 British English
2699 Cod Mark Kurlansky 1997 American English
2805 Fates and Furies Lauren Groff 2015 American English
2818 The Great Fire Shirley Hazzard 2003 Australian English
2827 A Manual For Cleaning Women Lucia Berlin 2015 American English
2867 The Story Of The Lost Child Elena Ferrante 2014 Italian Italian
2898 Indigo Beverly Jenkins 1996 American English
2902 Cremation Rafael Chirbes 2007 Spanish Spanish
2904 What I Loved Siri Hustvedt 2003 American English
2908 Love Life Zeruya Shalev 2000 Israeli Hebrew
2929 Unless Carol Shields 2002 Canadian English
2951 Some Hope Edward St Aubyn 1994 British English
2958 The Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai 2006 Indian English
2967 The Sea John Banville 2005 Irish English
3015 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 1990 American English
3077 Once Were Warriors Alan Duff 1990 New Zealand English
3114 Foster Claire Keegan 2010 Irish English
3136 Mother's Milk Edward St Aubyn 2005 British English
3172 The Bee Sting Paul Murray 2023 Irish English
3180 Flight Behavior Barbara Kingsolver 2012 American English
3206 The Prize Daniel Yergin 1991 American English
3238 The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson 2000 American English
3272 The Luminaries Eleanor Catton 2013 New Zealand English
3280 Before Night Falls Reinaldo Arenas 1992 Cuban Spanish
3443 Transit Rachel Cusk 2016 British English
3507 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
3508 Joe Cinque's Consolation Helen Garner 2004 Australian English
3562 Charming Billy Alice McDermott 1998 American English
3573 Notes from No Man's Land Eula Biss 2009 American English
3578 Mercy Of A Rude Stream Henry Roth 1994 American English
3588 The First Man Albert Camus 1994 French French
3827 Cloudstreet Tim Winton 1991 Australian English
3845 Troubling Love Elena Ferrante 1992 Italian Italian
3875 We Need To Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver 2003 American English
3902 Cities of the Plain Cormac McCarthy 1998 American English
3923 The Coldest Winter Ever Sister Souljah 1999 American English
4072 The Song Of Everlasting Sorrow Wang Anyi 1995 Chinese Chinese
4134 Fieldwork In Ukrainian Sex Oksana Zabuzhko 1996 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4189 The Bridges Of Madison County Robert James Waller 1992 American English
4363 The Anatomy Of A Moment Javier Cercas 2009 Spanish Spanish
4461 The Royal Physician's Visit Per Olov Enquist 1999 Swedish Swedish
4470 Intermezzo Sally Rooney 2024 Irish English
4593 Last Night James Salter 2005 American English
4617 Deacon King Kong James McBride 2020 American English
4653 Tomorrow In The Battle Think On Me Javier Marias 1994 Spanish Spanish
4865 The Love Songs Of W.E.B. Dubois Honorée Fanonne Jeffers 2021 American English
4928 Dreaming Of You Lisa Kleypas 1994 American English
5120 In The Night Of Time Antonio Muñoz Molina 2012 Spanish Spanish
5249 The Art of Fielding Chad Harbach 2011 American English
5256 The Collected Stories Grace Paley 1994 American English
5316 Faithless Joyce Carol Oates 2001 American English
5334 Jernigan David Gates 1991 American English
5358 Team of Rivals Doris Kearns Goodwin 2005 American English
5391 The Horse Whisperer Nicholas Evans 1995 British English
5408 Melancholy Jon Fosse 1995 Norwegian Norwegian
5458 Forgotten Ally Rana Mitter 2013 British English
5460 The Yellow House Sarah M. Broom 2019 American English
5461 Giving up the Ghost Hilary Mantel 2003 British English
5501 The Crowned Wanderer Rahim Esenov 1994 Turkmen Unknown
5621 The Thing About December Donal Ryan 2013 Irish English
5667 Medea And Her Children Lyudmila Ulitskaya 1996 Russian Russian
5700 Fear And Trembling Amélie Nothomb 1999 Belgian French
5702 A Place of Greater Safety Hilary Mantel 1992 British English
5752 Shadows On The Tundra Dalia Grinkevičiutė 1997 Lithuanian Lithuanian
5801 The Beak of the Finch Jonathan Weiner 1994 American English
5933 Small Fry Lisa Brennan-Jobs 2018 American English
5995 The Green Road Anne Enright 2015 Irish English
6141 Two Worlds Anne Salmond 1992 New Zealand English
6162 Arguably Christopher Hitchens 2011 British English
6200 Amantul Colivăresei Radu Aldulescu 1996 Romanian Romanian
6255 Midwinter Break Bernard MacLaverty 2017 Irish English
6257 A Novel About My Wife Emily Perkins 2008 New Zealand English
6264 The Other Boleyn Girl Philippa Gregory 2001 British English