The Greatest Books of All Time Set in France

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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
2 In Search of Lost Time Marcel Proust 1913 French French
20 Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert 1857 French French
23 The Stranger Albert Camus 1942 French French
40 Les Misérables Victor Hugo 1862 French French
42 The Red and the Black Stendhal 1830 French French
48 Journey to the End of The Night Louis-Ferdinand Céline 1932 French French
62 The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway 1926 American English
75 Essays Michel de Montaigne 1580 French French
80 Candide Voltaire 1759 French French
86 All Quiet on the Western Front Erich Maria Remarque 1928 German German
87 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
116 A Sentimental Education Gustave Flaubert 1869 French French
119 The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
140 The Second Sex Simone de Beauvoir 1949 French French
143 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
167 Giovanni's Room James Baldwin 1956 American English
168 Tender Is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald 1934 American English
178 The Flowers of Evil Charles Baudelaire 1857 French French
186 Bonjour Tristesse Francoise Sagan 1954 French French
188 A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens 1859 British English
210 Dangerous Liaison Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 1782 French French
213 The Counterfeiters André Gide 1925 French French
229 Democracy in America Alexis de Tocqueville 1835 French French
235 The Ambassadors Henry James 1903 American English
238 A Season in Hell Arthur Rimbaud 1873 French French
239 Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller 1934 American English
245 Nausea Jean Paul Sartre 1938 French French
269 Nightwood Djuna Barnes 1936 American English
275 The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1782 French French
276 Life, a User's Manual Georges Perec 1978 French French
292 Of Human Bondage W. Somerset Maugham 1915 British English
296 The Lover Marguerite Duras 1984 French French
316 Pensées Blaise Pascal 1670 French French
341 The Human Comedy Honoré de Balzac 1830 French French
354 Hopscotch Julio Cortazar 1963 Argentinian Spanish
356 Germinal Émile Zola 1885 French French
366 The Hunchback of Notre-Dame Victor Hugo 1831 French French
371 History of My Life Giacomo Casanova 1822 Italian French
379 The Second World War Winston Churchill 1948 British English
382 Parade's End Ford Madox Ford 1924 British English
394 Nadja André Breton 1928 French French
395 The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein 1933 American English
398 The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge Rainer Maria Rilke 1910 German German
403 The Words Jean Paul Sartre 1963 French French
408 The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus 1942 French French
410 The Razor's Edge W. Somerset Maugham 1944 British English
412 Jacques the Fatalist and His Master Denis Diderot 1796 French French
415 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
431 Memoirs From Beyond the Grave François-Auguste-René de Chateaubriand 1849 French French
432 Lost Illusions Honoré de Balzac 1837 French French
449 Les Enfants Terribles Jean Cocteau 1929 French French
464 Petrarch's Songbook Francesco Petrarca 1341 Italian Italian
478 Alcools Guillaume Apollinaire 1913 French French
485 Tristes Tropiques Claude Lévi-Strauss 1955 French French
489 Manon Lescaut Abbe Prevost 1731 French French
491 Bouvard et Pécuchet Gustave Flaubert 1881 French French
495 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
498 The Immoralist André Gide 1902 French French
501 Another Country James Baldwin 1962 American English
502 W, or the Memory of Childhood Georges Perec 1975 French French
510 Eugenie Grandet Honoré de Balzac 1833 French French
511 Perfume Patrick Suskind 1985 German German
527 The Social Contract Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1762 French French
533 Cousin Bette Honoré de Balzac 1846 French French
537 The Waning of the Middle Ages Johan Huizinga 1919 Dutch Dutch
538 Zazie in the Metro Raymond Queneau 1959 French French
543 Discourse on Method Rene Descartes 1637 French French
568 The Mandarins Simone de Beauvoir 1954 French French
583 Against Nature J. K. Huysmans 1884 French French
589 Bel Ami Guy de Maupassant 1885 French French
591 Stories of Guy de Maupassant Guy de Maupassant 1880 French French
597 The Years Annie Ernaux 2008 French French
605 Claudine Colette 1900 French French
616 The Rebel Albert Camus 1951 French French
626 Promise at Dawn Romain Gary 1960 French French
638 Being and Nothingness Jean Paul Sartre 1943 French French
639 Reflections on the Revolution in France Edmund Burke 1790 British English
642 Testament Of Youth Vera Brittain 1933 British English
655 Stories of Ernest Hemingway Ernest Hemingway 1987 American English
657 The Elementary Particles Michel Houellebecq 1998 French French
659 Mythologies Roland Barthes 1957 French French
661 Interview with the Vampire Anne Rice 1976 American English
690 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin 1791 American English
694 La Fontaine's Fables Jean de La Fontaine 1668 French French
717 A Sport and a Pastime James Salter 1967 American English
718 Possession A. S. Byatt 1990 British English
725 The Kingdom of This World Alejo Carpentier 1949 Cuban Spanish
729 Thérèse Desqueyroux François Mauriac 1927 French French
731 The Mysteries of Udolpho Ann Radcliffe 1794 British English
737 The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton 1913 American English
755 The Well of Loneliness Radclyffe Hall 1928 British English
759 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
766 Adolphe Benjamin Constant 1816 Swiss French
780 Maxims François duc de La Rochefoucauld 1665 French French
790 The Mask of Dimitrios Eric Ambler 1939 British English
807 The Book of the City of Ladies Christine De Pizan 1405 French French
811 The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux 1909 French French
825 In Our Time Ernest Hemingway 1925 American English
834 Story of O Pauline Reage 1954 French French
836 Second Thoughts Michel Butor 1957 French French
842 Outlander Diana Gabaldon 1991 American English
846 A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy Laurence Sterne 1768 British English
855 A Moveable Feast Ernest Hemingway 1964 American English
884 Homo Faber Max Frisch 1957 Swiss German
888 Drunkard Émile Zola 1877 French Unknown
912 The Making of Americans Gertrude Stein 1925 American English
923 The World Of Yesterday Stefan Zweig 1942 Austrian German
929 Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet 1943 French French
939 Rameau's Nephew Denis Diderot 1761 French French
939 Émile Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1762 French French
955 Moravagine Blaise Cendrars 1926 Swiss French
958 The Periodic Table Primo Levi 1975 Italian Italian
962 The Diary of a Country Priest Georges Bernanos 1936 French French
964 Paroles Jacques Prévert 1946 French French
969 Storm of Steel Ernst Jünger 1920 German German
983 A Study In Scarlet Arthur Conan Doyle 1887 British English
984 Tartuffe Molière 1664 French French
988 Flaubert's Parrot Julian Barnes 1984 British English
996 Journey by Moonlight Antal Szerb 1937 Hungarian Hungarian
1023 Transit Anna Seghers 1944 German German