The Greatest Books of All Time Set in Great Britain

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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
6 Nineteen Eighty Four George Orwell 1949 British English
38 Great Expectations Charles Dickens 1860 British English
47 David Copperfield Charles Dickens 1849 British English
59 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier 1938 British English
71 Hamlet William Shakespeare 1600 British English
80 Candide Voltaire 1759 French French
129 First Folio William Shakespeare 1623 British English
143 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
173 A Room of One's Own Virginia Woolf 1929 British English
192 Persuasion Jane Austen 1817 British English
196 Lady Chatterley's Lover D. H. Lawrence 1928 British English
216 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens 1843 British English
221 White Teeth Zadie Smith 2000 British English
233 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold John le Carré 1963 British English
248 Atonement Ian McEwan 2001 British English
286 The Once and Future King T. H. White 1958 British English
297 Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott 1819 British English
300 The Life of Samuel Johnson James Boswell 1791 British English
344 The Thirty-Nine Steps John Buchan 1915 British English
352 The Vicar of Wakefield Oliver Goldsmith 1766 British English
379 The Second World War Winston Churchill 1948 British English
382 Parade's End Ford Madox Ford 1924 British English
390 The Old Wives' Tale Arnold Bennett 1908 British English
393 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins 1868 British English
397 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel 2009 British English
419 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey 1951 British English
495 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
531 The Wealth of Nations Adam Smith 1776 Scottish English
588 The Pillars Of The Earth Ken Follett 1989 British English
625 The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
633 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
639 Reflections on the Revolution in France Edmund Burke 1790 British English
642 Testament Of Youth Vera Brittain 1933 British English
643 Silas Marner George Eliot 1861 British English
691 Excellent Women Barbara Pym 1952 British English
708 Captain Hornblower R.N. C. S. Forester 1937 British English
723 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
774 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman Mary Wollstonecraft 1792 British English
814 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett 1911 British English
819 Burmese Days George Orwell 1934 British English
849 Regeneration Pat Barker 1991 British English
868 Henry James Leon Edel 1953 American English
881 Utopia Thomas More 1516 British Latin
921 Master and Commander Patrick O'Brian 1969 British English
941 Collected Essays of George Orwell George Orwell 1968 British English
950 Richard III William Shakespeare 1592 British English
965 Eminent Victorians Lytton Strachey 1918 British English
1107 The Heart of the Matter Graham Greene 1948 British English
1344 The Emigrants W. G. Sebald 1992 German German
1380 The Sword in the Stone T. H. White 1938 British English
1395 The Mists of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley 1983 American English
1416 Rights of Man Thomas Paine 1791 British English
1435 Life After Life Kate Atkinson 2013 British English
1485 A Perfect Spy John le Carré 1986 British English
1520 The Slaves of Solitude Patrick Hamilton 1947 British English
1524 Greenmantle John Buchan 1916 British English
1585 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke 2004 British English
1611 Crome Yellow Aldous Huxley 1921 British English
1641 Disraeli Robert Blake 1966 British English
1663 The Making of the English Working Class E. P. Thompson 1963 British English
1772 Hard Times Charles Dickens 1854 British English
1871 Brief Lives John Aubrey 1898 British English
1934 Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernières 1994 British English
1981 West With the Night Beryl Markham 1942 British English
1995 Say Nothing Patrick Radden Keefe 2018 American English
2080 A Little Princess Frances Hodgson Burnett 1905 British English
2108 The Shell Seekers Rosamunde Pilcher 1987 British English
2161 The Uses of Literacy Richard Hoggart 1957 British English
2184 In a Free State V. S. Naipaul 1971 Trinidadian English
2198 The Last Lion William Manchester 1983 American English
2253 A Field Guide to the Birds Roger Tory Peterson 1934 American English
2310 Sexing the Cherry Jeanette Winterson 1989 British English
2390 The Face of Battle John Keegan 1976 British English
2436 The Railway Children Edith Nesbit 1906 British English
2449 Henry V William Shakespeare 1600 British English
2485 Small Island Andrea Levy 2004 British English
2595 Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Jeanette Winterson 2011 British English
2716 The Great War and Modern Memory Paul Fussell 1975 American English
2879 The Diary of Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys 1825 British English
2917 Bring Up the Bodies Hilary Mantel 2012 British English
2947 Eva Trout Elizabeth Bowen 1968 Irish English
2985 Tipping The Velvet Sarah Waters 1998 British English
3082 Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome 1930 British English
3174 My Early Life Winston Churchill 1930 British English
3306 Henry IV, Part I William Shakespeare 1597 British English
3324 Back Henry Green 1946 British English
3424 Common Sense Thomas Paine 1776 British English
3497 Devil's Cub Georgette Heyer 1932 British English
3638 Areopagitica John Milton 1644 British English
3879 The Hollow Hills Mary Stewart 1973 British English
3920 Staying Power Peter Fryer 1984 British English
4133 The Cathedral Oles Honchar 1968 Ukrainian Ukrainian
4410 The Pigeon Patrick Suskind 1987 German German
4444 Chronicles of Wasted Time Malcolm Muggeridge 1972 British English
4482 The Eustace Diamonds Anthony Trollope 1871 British English
4849 The Strange Death of Liberal England George Dangerfield 1935 British English
4853 Melbourne David Cecil 1939 British English
5280 At Last Edward St Aubyn 2011 British English
5460 Giving up the Ghost Hilary Mantel 2003 British English
5620 V for Vendetta Alan Moore 1982 British English
5735 The Ghost Road Pat Barker 1995 British English
5844 Revolution in the Head Ian MacDonald 1994 British English
6081 Dissolution C. J. Sansom 2003 British English
6157 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Howard Pyle 1883 American English
6279 The Mirror and the Lamp Meyer Howard Abrams 1953 American English
6329 Religion And The Rise Of Capitalism R. H. Tawney 1926 British English
6506 Arcadia Jim Crace 1992 British English
6698 The Little Stranger Sarah Waters 2009 British English
7048 Personality Andrew O'Hagan 2003 Scottish English
7085 Nothing Like the Sun Anthony Burgess 1964 British English
7197 Parallel Lives Phyllis Rose 1983 American English
7601 Code Name Verity Elizabeth Wein 2012 British English
7627 The Mysterious William Shakespeare Charlton Ogburn 1984 American English
7666 The Age Of Wonder Richard Holmes 2008 British English
7709 The Honourable Schoolboy John le Carré 1977 British English
7844 The Accidental Ali Smith 2005 British English
7871 Mr Standfast John Buchan 1919 British English
8097 Day A. L. Kennedy 2007 British English
8251 The Old Curiosity Shop Charles Dickens 1841 British English
8666 The Rape of the Lock Alexander Pope 1712 British English