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
8713 To A Distant Island James McConkey 1984 American English
8842 Desertion Abdulrazak Gurnah 2005 Tanzanian English
9009 The Translator Leila Aboulela 1999 British English
9098 Of Strangers And Bees Hamid Ismailov 2019 Uzbek Uzbek
9185 By The Sea Abdulrazak Gurnah 2001 British English
9279 The Balkan Trilogy Olivia Manning 1960 British English
9324 The Butterfly’s Burden Mahmoud Darwish 2007 Palestinian Arabic
9358 Selected Poems Marina Tsvetayeva 1971 Russian Russian
9373 The African Shore Rodrigo Rey Rosa 1999 Guatemalan Spanish
9597 The Naked Eye Yoko Tawada 2004 Multiple German
9648 Selected Poems Osip Mandelstam 1973 Russian Russian
9777 Collected Poems Derek Walcott 1986 Saint Lucian English
9836 Exile And Return Yannis Ritsos 1975 Greek Greek
9965 Varieties Of Exile Mavis Gallant 2003 Canadian English
10018 Qu’elle Aille Au Diable Meryl Streep Rachid El-Daïf 2007 Unknown French
10042 A Part Of Speech Joseph Brodsky 1977 American Russian
10098 The Secret History Of Costaguana Juan Gabriel Vásquez 2007 Colombian Spanish
10140 Poems Of Jorge De Sena Jorge de Sena 1978 Portuguese Portuguese
10281 La Burla Del Tiempo Mauricio Electorat 2004 Chilean Spanish
10288 El Inútil De La Familia Jorge Edwards 2004 Chilean Spanish
10292 I Was Born There, I Was Born Here Mourid Barghouti 2011 Palestinian Arabic
10309 Memoirs Of A Revolutionary Victor Serge 1951 French French
10904 The Hooligan's Return Norman Manea 2003 Romanian Romanian
10920 Guerre Et Pluie Velibor Čolić 2014 Unknown French
11134 Imaginary Homelands Salman Rushdie 1991 British English
11181 The Abandoned Baobab Ken Bugul 1982 Senegalese French
11278 Space In Motion Juan Goytisolo 1987 Spanish Unknown
11278 The Ill Fated Peregrinations Of Fray Servando Reinaldo Arenas 1987 Cuban Spanish
11358 Walking On The Ceiling Ayşegül Savaş 2019 Turkish English
11418 Waiting for Snow in Havana Carlos Eire 2003 Cuban English
11605 One Hundred Poems By Cavafy Cavafy Greek Greek
11663 Arabesques Anton Shammas 1986 Israeli Hebrew
11856 You Left On A May Day Yannis Ritsos Greek Greek
11880 Sololand Hassan Blasim 2021 Iraqi Arabic
12050 Irakisk Kristus Hassan Blasim 2009 Unknown Arabic
12131 The Glass Palace Amitav Ghosh 2000 Indian English
12259 Dreams Of An Insomniac Irena Klepfisz 1990 American English
12326 Vladimir Nabokov Brian Boyd 1990 British English
12326 The Collected Stories Of Mavis Gallant Mavis Gallant 1996 Canadian English
12326 Victor Hugo Graham Robb 1997 British English
12419 Desert J. M. G. Le Clezio 1980 French French
12515 Family Album Claribel Alegría 1991 Nicaraguan Spanish
12588 The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears Dinaw Mengestu 2007 American English
12657 Selected Poems Adunis 2000 Syrian Arabic
12740 Small Country Gaël Faye 2016 French French
12756 Maidenhair Mikhail Shishkin 2005 Russian Russian
12773 The Consequences Of Love Sulaiman Addonia 2008 British English
12795 The Red Star Anthoninthasan Jesuthasan Unknown Unknown
13077 The Isle In The Silver Sea Tasha Suri 2025 British English
13137 Katherine Mansfield Gerri Kimber 2025 Unknown English
13152 The Book Of Jonah Luke Kennard 2025 British English
13153 The New Carthaginians Nick Makoha 2025 Ugandan English
13259 The Corpse Washer Sinan Antoon 2010 Iraqi Arabic
13500 The Ship Of Fools Cristina Peri Rossi 2021 Uruguayan Spanish
13600 Faux Passeports Charles Plisnier 1937 Belgian French
13600 God Was Born In Exile Vintilă Horia 1960 Unknown Spanish
13600 The Lost Shore Anna Langfus 1962 French French
13600 To Forget Palermo Edmonde Charles-Roux 1966 French French
13600 The Lost Ones Frédérick Tristan 1983 French French
13600 Brecht's Lover Jacques-Pierre Amette 2003 French French
13600 Cry, Mother Spain Lydie Salvayre 2014 French French
13600 Houris Kamel Daoud 2024 French French
13814 The Bad Girl Mario Vargas Llosa 2006 Peruvian Spanish
13818 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
14985 Call Me Zebra Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi 2018 American English
14985 The Lacuna Barbara Kingsolver 2009 American English
14985 The Many Coloured Land Julian May 1981 American English
14985 From The Fifteenth District Mavis Gallant 1979 Canadian English
14985 The Most Secret Memory Of Men Mohamed Mbougar Sarr 2023 Senegalese French
15667 Do Not Disturb Michela Wrong 2021 British English
15916 The Purple Land Jay William Hudson 1885 Unknown Unknown
15916 Childhood, Youth And Exile Alexander Herzen 1852 Russian Russian
16533 Latin Quarter Suhail Idriss 1953 Lebanese Arabic
16602 Flotsam Erich Maria Remarque 1939 German German
16739 Exiles James Joyce 1918 Irish English
17163 Liberty's Exiles Maya Jasanoff 2011 American English
17163 Broken Glass Alain Mabanckou 2005 Congolese French
17163 The House Of The Dead Daniel Beer 2017 British English
17163 The Emperor's Last Island Julia Blackburn 1991 British English
17163 In Search Of Walid Masoud Jabra Ibrahim Jabra 1978 Palestinian Arabic
17163 Tattoo Abdul Rahman Majeed al-Rubaie 1972 Iraqi Arabic
17163 Love In Exile Bahaa Taher 1995 Egyptian Arabic
17163 Memory In The Flesh Ahlam Mosteghanemi 1993 Algerian Arabic
17163 Return To Exile Abu El Maati Abu El Naga 1972 Egyptian Unknown
17163 Gate Of The Sun Elias Khoury 1998 Lebanese Arabic
17163 The Crane Halim Barakat 1988 Syrian Arabic
17163 Granada Radwa Ashour 1994 Egyptian Arabic
17163 The Global Soul Pico Iyer 2000 British English
17163 The Country Without A Post Office Agha Shahid Ali 1997 Indian English
17163 To The Islands Randolph Stow 1958 Australian English
17163 The Russian Window Dragan Velikić 2007 Unknown Serbian
17163 The World And All That It Holds Aleksandar Hemon 2023 Bosnian English
17163 Man Of My Time Dalia Sofer 2020 Unknown English
17163 My Part Of Her Javad Djavahery 2017 Unknown French
17163 The Luminous Heart Of Jonah S. Gina B. Nahai 2014 American English
17163 The Pomegranate Lady And Her Sons Goli Taraghi 2013 Iranian Persian
17163 Station Island Seamus Heaney 1984 Irish English
17163 Worlds Of Exile And Illusion Ursula K. Le Guin 1996 American English
17163 Eleni Or Nobody Rhea Galanaki 1998 Greek Greek
17163 Roman Stories Jhumpa Lahiri 2023 Unknown English
17163 The Necessity Of Exile Shaul Magid 2023 Unknown Unknown
17163 Paris Notebooks Mavis Gallant 2023 Canadian English
17163 Hangman Maya Binyam 2023 Unknown English
17163 Picasso The Foreigner Annie Cohen‑Solal 2023 Unknown French
17163 A Stone Is Most Precious Where It Belongs Gulchehra Hoja 2023 Unknown English
17163 Iron Curtain Vesna Goldsworthy 2023 Unknown English
17163 Daughter In Exile Bisi Adjapon 2023 Unknown English
17163 Memoirs Pablo Neruda 1974 Chilean Spanish
17163 Ways Of Escape Graham Greene 1971 British English
17163 The Yiddish Policeman's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
17163 All That I Am Anna Funder 2011 Australian English
17163 Fox Dubravka Ugrešić 2017 Croatian Croatian
17163 Translation As Transhumance Mireille Gansel 2017 French French
17163 Subtly Worded Teffi 2014 Russian Russian
17163 Afrikalı Leo Amin Maalouf 1986 French French