The Greatest Books of All Time on Exile

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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
8709 To A Distant Island James McConkey 1984 American English
8838 Desertion Abdulrazak Gurnah 2005 Tanzanian English
9005 The Translator Leila Aboulela 1999 British English
9093 Of Strangers And Bees Hamid Ismailov 2019 Uzbek Uzbek
9181 By The Sea Abdulrazak Gurnah 2001 British English
9274 The Balkan Trilogy Olivia Manning 1960 British English
9319 The Butterfly’s Burden Mahmoud Darwish 2007 Palestinian Arabic
9353 Selected Poems Marina Tsvetayeva 1971 Russian Russian
9368 The African Shore Rodrigo Rey Rosa 1999 Guatemalan Spanish
9592 The Naked Eye Yoko Tawada 2004 Multiple German
9644 Selected Poems Osip Mandelstam 1973 Russian Russian
9773 Collected Poems Derek Walcott 1986 Saint Lucian English
9832 Exile And Return Yannis Ritsos 1975 Greek Greek
9960 Varieties Of Exile Mavis Gallant 2003 Canadian English
10013 Qu’elle Aille Au Diable Meryl Streep Rachid El-Daïf 2007 Unknown French
10036 A Part Of Speech Joseph Brodsky 1977 American Russian
10092 The Secret History Of Costaguana Juan Gabriel Vásquez 2007 Colombian Spanish
10135 Poems Of Jorge De Sena Jorge de Sena 1978 Portuguese Portuguese
10275 La Burla Del Tiempo Mauricio Electorat 2004 Chilean Spanish
10282 El Inútil De La Familia Jorge Edwards 2004 Chilean Spanish
10286 I Was Born There, I Was Born Here Mourid Barghouti 2011 Palestinian Arabic
10303 Memoirs Of A Revolutionary Victor Serge 1951 French French
10897 The Hooligan's Return Norman Manea 2003 Romanian Romanian
10913 Guerre Et Pluie Velibor Čolić 2014 Unknown French
11127 Imaginary Homelands Salman Rushdie 1991 British English
11174 The Abandoned Baobab Ken Bugul 1982 Senegalese French
11271 Space In Motion Juan Goytisolo 1987 Spanish Unknown
11271 The Ill Fated Peregrinations Of Fray Servando Reinaldo Arenas 1987 Cuban Spanish
11351 Walking On The Ceiling Ayşegül Savaş 2019 Turkish English
11412 Waiting for Snow in Havana Carlos Eire 2003 Cuban English
11602 One Hundred Poems By Cavafy Cavafy Greek Greek
11660 Arabesques Anton Shammas 1986 Israeli Hebrew
11854 You Left On A May Day Yannis Ritsos Greek Greek
11878 Sololand Hassan Blasim 2021 Iraqi Arabic
12048 Irakisk Kristus Hassan Blasim 2009 Unknown Arabic
12130 The Glass Palace Amitav Ghosh 2000 Indian English
12258 Dreams Of An Insomniac Irena Klepfisz 1990 American English
12324 Vladimir Nabokov Brian Boyd 1990 British English
12324 The Collected Stories Of Mavis Gallant Mavis Gallant 1996 Canadian English
12324 Victor Hugo Graham Robb 1997 British English
12417 Desert J. M. G. Le Clezio 1980 French French
12513 Family Album Claribel Alegría 1991 Nicaraguan Spanish
12586 The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears Dinaw Mengestu 2007 American English
12655 Selected Poems Adunis 2000 Syrian Arabic
12738 Small Country Gaël Faye 2016 French French
12754 Maidenhair Mikhail Shishkin 2005 Russian Russian
12771 The Consequences Of Love Sulaiman Addonia 2008 British English
12793 The Red Star Anthoninthasan Jesuthasan Unknown Unknown
13074 The Isle In The Silver Sea Tasha Suri 2025 British English
13134 Katherine Mansfield Gerri Kimber 2025 Unknown English
13149 The Book Of Jonah Luke Kennard 2025 British English
13150 The New Carthaginians Nick Makoha 2025 Ugandan English
13256 The Corpse Washer Sinan Antoon 2010 Iraqi Arabic
13498 The Ship Of Fools Cristina Peri Rossi 2021 Uruguayan Spanish
13599 Faux Passeports Charles Plisnier 1937 Belgian French
13599 God Was Born In Exile Vintilă Horia 1960 Unknown Spanish
13599 The Lost Shore Anna Langfus 1962 French French
13599 To Forget Palermo Edmonde Charles-Roux 1966 French French
13599 The Lost Ones Frédérick Tristan 1983 French French
13599 Brecht's Lover Jacques-Pierre Amette 2003 French French
13599 Cry, Mother Spain Lydie Salvayre 2014 French French
13599 Houris Kamel Daoud 2024 French French
13813 The Bad Girl Mario Vargas Llosa 2006 Peruvian Spanish
13817 N. Ernesto Ferrero 2000 Italian Italian
13971 What We Owe Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde 2017 Swedish English
14020 The South Colm Toibin 1990 Irish English
14046 又見棕櫚, 又見棕櫚 Yu Lihua 1971 Chinese Chinese
14155 Mulberry And Peach Hualing Nieh 1976 Chinese Chinese
14232 Disoriental Négar Djavadi 2016 French French
14983 Call Me Zebra Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi 2018 American English
14983 The Lacuna Barbara Kingsolver 2009 American English
14983 The Many Coloured Land Julian May 1981 American English
14983 From The Fifteenth District Mavis Gallant 1979 Canadian English
14983 The Most Secret Memory Of Men Mohamed Mbougar Sarr 2023 Senegalese French
15659 Do Not Disturb Michela Wrong 2021 British English
15897 The Purple Land Jay William Hudson 1885 Unknown Unknown
15897 Childhood, Youth And Exile Alexander Herzen 1852 Russian Russian
16513 Latin Quarter Suhail Idriss 1953 Lebanese Arabic
16701 Exiles James Joyce 1918 Irish English
17117 Liberty's Exiles Maya Jasanoff 2011 American English
17117 Broken Glass Alain Mabanckou 2005 Congolese French
17117 The House Of The Dead Daniel Beer 2017 British English
17117 The Emperor's Last Island Julia Blackburn 1991 British English
17117 In Search Of Walid Masoud Jabra Ibrahim Jabra 1978 Palestinian Arabic
17117 Tattoo Abdul Rahman Majeed al-Rubaie 1972 Iraqi Arabic
17117 Love In Exile Bahaa Taher 1995 Egyptian Arabic
17117 Memory In The Flesh Ahlam Mosteghanemi 1993 Algerian Arabic
17117 Return To Exile Abu El Maati Abu El Naga 1972 Egyptian Unknown
17117 Gate Of The Sun Elias Khoury 1998 Lebanese Arabic
17117 The Crane Halim Barakat 1988 Syrian Arabic
17117 Granada Radwa Ashour 1994 Egyptian Arabic
17117 The Global Soul Pico Iyer 2000 British English
17117 The Country Without A Post Office Agha Shahid Ali 1997 Indian English
17117 To The Islands Randolph Stow 1958 Australian English
17117 The Russian Window Dragan Velikić 2007 Unknown Serbian
17117 The World And All That It Holds Aleksandar Hemon 2023 Bosnian English
17117 Man Of My Time Dalia Sofer 2020 Unknown English
17117 My Part Of Her Javad Djavahery 2017 Unknown French
17117 The Luminous Heart Of Jonah S. Gina B. Nahai 2014 American English
17117 The Pomegranate Lady And Her Sons Goli Taraghi 2013 Iranian Persian
17117 Station Island Seamus Heaney 1984 Irish English
17117 Worlds Of Exile And Illusion Ursula K. Le Guin 1996 American English
17117 Eleni Or Nobody Rhea Galanaki 1998 Greek Greek
17117 Roman Stories Jhumpa Lahiri 2023 Unknown English
17117 The Necessity Of Exile Shaul Magid 2023 Unknown Unknown
17117 Paris Notebooks Mavis Gallant 2023 Canadian English
17117 Hangman Maya Binyam 2023 Unknown English
17117 Picasso The Foreigner Annie Cohen‑Solal 2023 Unknown French
17117 A Stone Is Most Precious Where It Belongs Gulchehra Hoja 2023 Unknown English
17117 Iron Curtain Vesna Goldsworthy 2023 Unknown English
17117 Daughter In Exile Bisi Adjapon 2023 Unknown English
17117 Memoirs Pablo Neruda 1974 Chilean Spanish
17117 Ways Of Escape Graham Greene 1971 British English
17117 The Yiddish Policeman's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
17117 All That I Am Anna Funder 2011 Australian English
17117 Fox Dubravka Ugrešić 2017 Croatian Croatian
17117 Translation As Transhumance Mireille Gansel 2017 French French
17117 Subtly Worded Teffi 2014 Russian Russian
17117 Afrikalı Leo Amin Maalouf 1986 French French
17117 Complete Critical Prose And Letters Osip Mandelstam 1997 Russian Russian