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
5824 Conundrum Jan Morris 1974 British English
5838 The Grotesque Patrick McGrath 1989 British English
5846 Revolution in the Head Ian MacDonald 1994 British English
5850 Love For Love William Congreve 1695 British English
5851 The Recruiting Officer George Farquhar 1706 Irish English
5853 Major Barbara George Bernard Shaw 1905 British English
5862 Centuries, Poems, And Thanksgivings Thomas Traherne 1903 British English
5861 Mary Stuart Friedrich Schiller 1800 German German
5862 The Grasmere Journal Dorothy Wordsworth 1897 British English
5862 Poems Of John Clare John Clare 1820 British English
5862 Poems And Prose Gerald Manley Hopkins 1918 British English
5862 France And England In North America Francis Parkman 1865 American English
5860 Jack’s Return Home Ted Lewis 1970 British English
5892 Antic Hay Aldous Huxley 1923 British English
5901 The Beggar's Opera John Gay 1728 British English
5917 The Magic Toyshop Angela Carter 1967 British English
5903 The Country Wife William Wycherley 1675 British English
5917 Orley Farm Anthony Trollope 1862 British English
5917 The Valley Of Fear Arthur Conan Doyle 1915 British English
5976 So Much! Trish Cooke 1994 British English
5989 The Homecoming Harold Pinter 1965 British English
5992 The Children's Book A. S. Byatt 2009 British English
6004 The Oxford Book Of English Verse Arthur Quiller-Couch 1900 British English
6073 Earthfasts William Mayne 1966 British English
6004 The People Of The Abyss Jack London 1903 American English
6004 The Story Of My Life Giacomo Casanova 1822 Italian French
6004 Marginalia On Casanova Miklós Szentkuthy 1939 Hungarian Hungarian
6004 Quai Des Grands Augustins Jean Rhys 1930 Unknown French
6076 A Knight In Shining Armor Jude Deveraux 1989 American English
6079 John Keats Robert Gittings 1968 British English
6083 Dissolution C. J. Sansom 2003 British English
6141 Two Worlds Anne Salmond 1992 New Zealand English
6146 The Historian Elizabeth Kostova 2005 American English
6159 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Howard Pyle 1883 American English
6175 Gideon Of Scotland Yard J. J. Marric 1955 British English
6179 The Complete Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1828 British English
6182 Kenilworth Sir Walter Scott 1821 British English
6188 The March Of Folly Barbara Wertheim Tuchman 1984 American English
6232 A Night To Remember Walter Lord 1955 American English
6244 A Discovery Of Witches Deborah Harkness 2011 American English
6249 Great Apes Will Self 1997 British English
6251 Why Nations Fail Daron Acemoğlu, James A. Robinson 2012 American English
6257 A Novel About My Wife Emily Perkins 2008 New Zealand English
6258 Moments Of Being Virginia Woolf 1976 British English
6264 The Other Boleyn Girl Philippa Gregory 2001 British English
6273 Frost At Christmas R. D. Wingfield 1984 British English
6282 Union Street Pat Barker 1982 British English
6286 The Colour Of Murder Julian Symons 1957 British English
6293 The Ringed Castle Dorothy Dunnett 1971 British English
6317 Greenwitch Susan Cooper 1974 British English
6331 Religion And The Rise Of Capitalism R. H. Tawney 1926 British English
6336 The Worldly Philosophers Robert Heilbroner 1953 American English
6342 Kriminalgeschichte Des Christentums Karlheinz Deschner 1986 German German
6365 Moon Tiger Penelope Lively 1987 British English
6362 Master Georgie Beryl Bainbridge 1998 British English
6362 The Restraint Of Beasts Magnus Mills 1998 British English
6381 An Essay On Universal History, The Manners, And Spirit Of Nations Voltaire 1756 French French
6381 A Voyage Round The World Georg Forster 1777 German German
6381 The Condition Of The Working Class In England Friedrich Engels 1845 German German
6406 The Seven Per Cent Solution Nicholas Meyer 1974 American English
6411 Live Flesh Ruth Rendell 1986 British English
6457 The Needle's Eye Margaret Drabble 1972 British English
6466 Fat Is A Feminist Issue Susie Orbach 1978 British English
6477 Case Histories Kate Atkinson 2004 British English
6482 Year Of Wonders Geraldine Brooks 2001 Australian English
6539 Deliver Me From Eva Paul Bailey 2007 British Unknown
6543 Voyage Of The Iceberg Richard Brown 1983 Canadian English
6548 A Great Deliverance Elizabeth George 1988 American English
6571 Silver On The Tree Susan Cooper 1977 British English
6592 A Touch Of Frost R. D. Wingfield 1987 British English
6629 Checkmate Dorothy Dunnett 1975 British English
6629 Csárdás Diane Pearson 1975 British English
6678 The Concept Of Mind Gilbert Ryle 1949 British English
6699 The Little Stranger Sarah Waters 2009 British English
6701 The House In Norham Gardens Penelope Lively 1974 British English
6717 The Crime At Black Dudley Margery Allingham 1929 British English
6717 A Man Lay Dead Ngaio Marsh 1934 New Zealander English
6730 Saturday Ian McEwan 2005 British English
6737 Titmuss Regained John Mortimer 1990 British English
6748 Psalm At Journey's End Erik Fosnes Hansen 1990 Norwegian Norwegian
6760 Bold As Love Gwyneth Jones 2001 British English
6789 The Investigation Stanislaw Lem 1959 Polish Polish
6797 Oh, Whistle, And I'll Come To You, My Lad M. R. James 1904 British English
6831 The Uncommon Reader Alan Bennett 2007 British English
6834 The Dynasts Thomas Hardy 1904 British English
6846 King Solomon's Carpet Barbara Vine 1991 British English
6860 My Guru And His Disciple Christopher Isherwood 1980 British English
6867 Collected Poems Philip Larkin 1988 British English
6873 Love's Work Gillian Rose 1995 British English
6886 Dr. Johnson & Mr. Savage Richard Holmes 1993 British English
6890 Artemis Fowl Eoin Colfer 2001 Irish English
6896 Doomsday Book Connie Willis 1992 American English
6906 Washington Black Esi Edugyan 2018 Canadian English
6907 Spies Michael Frayn 2002 British English
6909 The Chatelaine Claire Lorrimer 1978 British English
6918 English Society In The Eighteenth Century Roy Porter 1982 British English
6923 The Monkey's Paw W. W. Jacobs 1902 British English
6939 The Talisman Sir Walter Scott 1825 Scottish English
6945 A Cool Breeze On The Underground Don Winslow 1991 American English
6962 The Stress of Her Regard Tim Powers 1989 American English
6968 The Duchess Bertrice Small 2001 American English
6969 Collected Shorter Poems W. H. Auden 1966 British English
6981 Hawthorn & Child Keith Ridgway 2012 Irish English
6987 Lord Perfect Loretta Chase 2006 American English
6992 Hallucinating Foucault Patricia Duncker 1996 British English
7009 The Trial Of The Cannibal Dog Anne Salmond 2003 New Zealand English
7021 The Girl On The Train Paula Hawkins 2015 British English
7031 Woodstock Sir Walter Scott 1826 British English
7052 A Summer To Remember Mary Balogh 2002 British English
7085 Nothing Like the Sun Anthony Burgess 1964 British English
7086 The Crocodile Bird Ruth Rendell 1993 British English
7112 The Inklings Humphrey Carpenter 1978 British English
7117 The Fortunes Of Nigel Sir Walter Scott 1822 Scottish English
7181 Joseph Vance William De Morgan 1906 British English
7191 Heartstopper Alice Oseman 2018 British English
7197 Parallel Lives Phyllis Rose 1983 American English
7199 The Nightwalker Thomas Tessier 1979 American English
7202 Gb84 David Peace 2004 British English
7215 The Complete English Poems John Skelton 1500 British English
7215 Poems Of Henry Howard Henry Howard 1557 British English