The Greatest Books of All Time Set in England

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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
1397 The BFG Roald Dahl 1982 British English
1406 The Life of Charlotte Brontë Elizabeth Gaskell 1857 British English
1416 Rights of Man Thomas Paine 1791 British English
1427 Vile Bodies Evelyn Waugh 1930 British English
1431 Cakes And Ale Or, The Skeleton In The Cupboard W. Somerset Maugham 1930 British English
1435 Life After Life Kate Atkinson 2013 British English
1446 The Tongue Set Free Elias Canetti 1977 Austrian German
1450 Mary Barton Elizabeth Gaskell 1848 British English
1451 The Children of Men P. D. James 1992 British English
1460 Never Mind Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
1461 Oranges are not the only Fruit Jeanette Winterson 1985 British English
1464 Little Dorrit Charles Dickens 1855 British English
1483 Tono Bungay H. G. Wells 1909 British English
1485 A Perfect Spy John le Carré 1986 British English
1492 The Real Life of Sebastian Knight Vladimir Nabokov 1941 Russian English
1494 Eye Of The Needle Ken Follett 1978 British English
1512 The Beast Must Die Nicholas Blake 1938 British English
1520 The Slaves of Solitude Patrick Hamilton 1947 British English
1547 What Maisie Knew Henry James 1897 American English
1549 Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont Elizabeth Taylor 1971 British English
1551 Hawksmoor Peter Ackroyd 1985 British English
1552 Waterland Graham Swift 1983 British English
1561 Oscar and Lucinda Peter Carey 1988 Australian English
1578 The Cement Garden Ian McEwan 1978 British English
1584 A Severed Head Iris Murdoch 1961 British English
1585 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke 2004 British English
1589 Tarka the Otter Henry Williamson 1927 British English
1599 The Unfortunate Traveller Thomas Nashe 1594 British English
1600 Studies in the Psychology of Sex Havelock Ellis 1897 British English
1604 Phineas Finn Anthony Trollope 1869 British English
1608 The Loneliness of the Long-distance Runner Alan Sillitoe 1959 British English
1611 The Prelude William Wordsworth 1850 British English
1611 Crome Yellow Aldous Huxley 1921 British English
1618 The Pursuit Of Love Nancy Mitford 1945 British English
1621 Good-Bye to All That Robert Graves 1929 British English
1629 Point Counter Point Aldous Huxley 1928 British English
1636 The Collector John Fowles 1963 British English
1641 Disraeli Robert Blake 1966 British English
1663 The Making of the English Working Class E. P. Thompson 1963 British English
1671 The Ordeal Of Richard Feverel George Meredith 1859 British English
1674 London Fields Martin Amis 1989 British English
1690 Goldfinger Ian Fleming 1959 British English
1706 The Principia Mathematica Alfred North Whitehead, Bertrand Russell 1910 British English
1712 The Great God Pan Arthur Machen 1894 British English
1736 Mary Poppins P. L. Travers 1934 British English
1739 A Fatal Inversion Barbara Vine 1987 British English
1741 The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 Sue Townsend 1982 British English
1751 NW Zadie Smith 2012 British English
1755 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J. K. Rowling 2005 British English
1772 Hard Times Charles Dickens 1854 British English
1779 Rob Roy Sir Walter Scott 1817 British English
1789 The Mystery Of Edwin Drood Charles Dickens 1870 British English
1790 The Master Colm Toibin 2004 Irish English
1792 The Adventures Of Roderick Random Tobias Smollett 1748 British English
1808 Martin Chuzzlewit Charles Dickens 1843 British English
1812 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon 2003 British English
1815 The Collected Poems of A. E. Housman A. E. Housman 1939 British English
1819 Carry On, Jeeves P. G. Wodehouse 1925 British English
1827 Experience Martin Amis 2000 British English
1842 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J. K. Rowling 2000 British English
1863 Katherine Anya Seton 1954 American English
1867 The Woodlanders Thomas Hardy 1887 British English
1871 Brief Lives John Aubrey 1898 British English
1888 A Dark Adapted Eye Barbara Vine 1986 British English
1902 The Physician Noah Gordon 1986 American English
1903 Handley Cross R. S. Surtees 1843 British English
1908 Smallbone Deceased Michael Gilbert 1950 British English
1910 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J. K. Rowling 2003 British English
1921 Anglo Saxon Attitudes Angus Wilson 1956 British English
1931 The Witches Roald Dahl 1983 British English
1938 The Spectator Joseph Addison 1711 British English
1940 The Four Just Men Edgar Wallace 1905 British English
1952 The Idea of History R. G. Collingwood 1946 British English
1948 The Jewel Of Seven Stars Bram Stoker 1903 British English
1973 The Invisible Man H. G. Wells 1897 British English
1981 West With the Night Beryl Markham 1942 British English
1982 The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne Gilbert White 1789 British English
2014 A Journal Of The Plague Year Daniel Defoe 1722 British English
2016 The Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley 1810 British English
2017 Riddley Walker Russell Hoban 1980 British English
2027 Quartet in Autumn Barbara Pym 1977 British English
2031 The History Of Rome Theodor Mommsen 1854 German German
2080 A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett 1905 British English
2090 Strong Poison Dorothy L. Sayers 1930 British English
2091 Lady Audley's Secret M. E. Braddon 1862 British English
2099 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
2102 Collected Short Stories of Saki Saki 1930 British English
2104 Someone Like You Roald Dahl 1953 British English
2108 The Shell Seekers Rosamunde Pilcher 1987 British English
2121 Julius Caesar William Shakespeare 1623 British English
2123 The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1892 British English
2127 Restoration Rose Tremain 1989 British English
2144 Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets J. K. Rowling 1998 British English
2161 The Uses of Literacy Richard Hoggart 1957 British English
2161 The Poetical Works Of William Wordsworth William Wordsworth 1807 British English
2169 My Cousin Rachel Daphne du Maurier 1951 British English
2172 Essays Charles Lamb 1823 British English
2180 Blue of Noon Georges Bataille 1957 French French
2198 The Last Lion William Manchester 1983 American English
2214 The Threepenny Opera Bertolt Brecht 1928 German German
2218 The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes 2011 British English
2223 Good Omens Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman 1990 British English
2228 The Anubis Gates Tim Powers 1983 American English
2232 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J. K. Rowling 2007 British English
2249 1066 And All That W. C. Sellar 1930 British English
2255 Busman’s Honeymoon Dorothy L. Sayers 1937 British English
2269 The Virgin in the Garden A. S. Byatt 1978 British English
2280 The Corner That Held Them Sylvia Townsend Warner 1948 British English
2283 Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian 1981 British English
2284 Smiley's People John le Carré 1979 British English
2310 Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson 1989 British English
2319 Lavengro George Borrow 1851 British English
2325 What a Carve Up! Jonathan Coe 1994 British English
2327 Tom Brown's School Days Thomas Hughes 1857 British English
2329 Whitney, My Love Judith McNaught 1985 American English
2332 The Devil In Velvet John Dickson Carr 1951 American English
2334 How to be both Ali Smith 2014 British English
2362 Sybil Benjamin Disraeli 1845 British English
2372 The Autobiography Of John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill 1873 British English
2372 Put Out More Flags Evelyn Waugh 1942 British English