The Greatest Books of All Time on Guilt

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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
8833 The Flies Jean Paul Sartre 1943 French French
8852 How German Is It Walter Abish 1980 American English
9191 American Rust Philipp Meyer 2009 American English
9191 Nemesis Philip Roth 2010 American English
9184 Bruno's Dream Iris Murdoch 1969 British English
9261 The Yellow Birds Kevin Powers 2012 American English
9364 A Dark Night's Passing Naoya Shiga 1937 Japanese Japanese
9356 True Confessions John Gregory Dunne 1977 American English
9375 Edgar Huntly Charles Brockden Brown 1799 American English
9641 Time's Arrow Martin Amis 1991 British English
9652 The Dinner Herman Koch 2009 Dutch Dutch
9670 Strange Shores Arnaldur Indriðason 2010 Icelandic Icelandic
9657 The Unlucky Murderer Håkan Nesser Swedish Swedish
9699 Beasts Made Of Night Tochi Onyebuchi 2017 American English
9716 The Crucible Arthur Miller 1953 American English
9739 Crime Ferdinand Von Schirach 2009 German German
9821 The Collini Case Ferdinand Von Schirach 2011 German German
9893 The Love of a Good Woman Alice Munro 1998 Canadian English
10447 The Speed Of Light Javier Cercas 2005 Spanish Spanish
10820 Salt To The Sea Ruta Sepetys 2016 American English
10823 The Ox Bow Incident Walter Van Tilburg Clark 1940 American English
10851 The Albany Cycle William Kennedy 1983 American English
10851 American Appetites Joyce Carol Oates 1989 American English
10921 Fools of Fortune William Trevor 1983 Irish English
10964 The Hair of Harold Roux Thomas Williams 1974 American English
10999 The Ghost Writer Philip Roth 1979 American English
11001 In The Lake Of The Woods Tim O'Brien 1994 American English
11024 The Good Apprentice Iris Murdoch 1985 British English
11063 The Flood John Broderick 2000 Irish English
11072 The Lost Man Jane Harper 2018 Australian English
11132 The Demolished Man Alfred Bester 1953 American English
11157 Lie Down In Darkness William Styron 1951 American English
11234 Until Stones Become Lighter Than Water António Lobo Antunes 2017 Portuguese Portuguese
11451 In This Our Life Ellen Glasgow 1941 American English
11494 The Black Prophet William Carleton 1847 Irish English
11793 Felicia's Journey William Trevor 1994 British English
11660 Him With His Foot In His Mouth And Other Stories Saul Bellow 1984 American English
11849 The Demon Hubert Selby 1976 American English
11893 The Bird Artist Howard Norman 1994 Canadian English
12016 Infidel Pornsak Pichetshote 2018 Unknown English
12048 Survivor’s Guilt Robyn Gigl 2023 American English
12048 The Detour Gerbrand Bakker 2010 Dutch Dutch
12145 The Book Of Evidence John Banville 1989 Irish English
12219 The Victim Saul Bellow 1947 American English
12258 Because It Is Bitter, And Because It Is My Heart Joyce Carol Oates 1990 American English
12324 Judge On Trial Ivan Klima 1991 Czech Czech
12861 The Bleeding Season Greg F. Gifune 2003 American English
13276 Idaho Emily Ruskovich 2017 American English
13551 The Lowland Jhumpa Lahiri 2013 American English
13581 The Spire William Golding 1964 British English
13599 A Father's Love Jacques Chessex 1973 Swiss French
13599 La Maison Vide Laurent Mauvignier French French
13599 Le Chèvrefeuille, Le Purgatoire, Le Chapitre Xiii Thierry Sandre French French
13599 Le Supplice De Phèdre Henri Deberly French French
13599 The Forests Of The Night Jean-Louis Curtis 1992 French French
13599 The Mercy Of God Jean Cau 1961 French French
13599 The Lost Shore Anna Langfus 1962 French French
13738 The Late Bourgeois World Nadine Gordimer 1966 South African English
13817 A Spiral Of Mist Michele Prisco 1966 Italian Italian
13817 Don't Move Margaret Mazzantini 2001 Italian Italian
13921 Blind Sunflowers Alberto Méndez 2004 Spanish Spanish
13941 Clockers Richard Price 1992 American English
13971 What We Owe Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde 2017 Swedish English
14063 Silent Close No. 6 Monika Maron 1991 German German
14212 The Fox In The Attic Richard Hughes 1961 British English
14232 Zoo City Lauren Beukes 2010 South African English
14232 Doubt John Patrick Shanley 2004 American English
14232 The Sweet Hereafter Russell Banks 1991 American English
14410 Greek Tragedies 1 David Grene 1955 Unknown English
14490 Sarah's Key Tatiana de Rosnay 2006 French French
14498 The Short Stories Of Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy 1988 British English
14823 The Wild Duck Henrik Ibsen 1884 Norwegian Norwegian
14897 Devil Take The Blue Tail Fly John Franklin Bardin 1948 American English
14885 Tales Of The Grotesque And Arabesque Edgar Allan Poe 1840 American English
14984 Shadows on the Hudson Isaac Bashevis Singer 1997 American Yiddish
14984 The Informer Liam O'Flaherty 1925 Irish English
14967 Strange Interlude Eugene O'Neill 1928 American English
14974 The Fire Raisers Max Frisch 1953 Swiss German
14984 The Last House On Needless Street Catriona Ward 2021 British English
14984 The Memory Keeper's Daughter Kim Edwards 2005 American English
14984 Please Look After Mom Kyung-sook Shin 2008 Korean Korean
14984 The Vegan Andrew Lipstein 2023 Unknown English
14984 Absolution Alice McDermott 2023 American English
15712 The Elected Member Bernice Rubens 1969 British English
15750 Mother Night Kurt Vonnegut 1961 American English
15762 The Oedipus Plays Of Sophocles Sophocles -429 Greek Ancient greek
15767 Crime And Punishment Dostoyevsky 1866 Russian Russian
15802 All My Sons Arthur Miller 1947 American English
15803 Into That Darkness Gitta Sereny 1974 British English
15858 The Ill Made Knight T.H. White 1940 British English
15898 A Spy In The House Of Love Anaïs Nin 1954 French English
15898 The Lady From Guatemala V. S. Pritchett 1957 British English
15898 Purgatory In Ingolstadt Marieluise Fleißer 1924 German German
15898 The Sheltered Life Ellen Glasgow 1932 American English
15898 The Big Clock Kenneth Fearing 1946 American English
15898 The Engagement Georges Simenon 1933 Belgian French
15897 The Complete Stories Edgar Allan Poe 1832 American English
16591 The Tell-Tale Heart Edgar Allan Poe 1843 American English
16696 Inside The Third Reich Speer 1969 German German
16662 The Sea And Poison Shūsaku Endō 1958 Japanese Japanese
16730 The Collected Tales Of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe 1908 American English
16674 Up At The Villa W. Somerset Maugham 1941 British English
16602 The Brothers Karamazov Fedor Dostoyevsky 1880 Russian Russian
17120 Postcards Annie Proulx 1992 American English
17120 Peeling the Onion Günter Grass 2006 German German
17120 The Sacred and Profane Love Machine Iris Murdoch 1974 British English
17120 An American Dream Norman Mailer 1965 American English
17120 The Statement Brian Moore 1995 Irish English
17120 The Devil's Advocate Morris West 1959 Australian English
17120 Death And The Maiden Ariel Dorfman 1991 Chilean Spanish
17120 Downward To The Earth Robert Silverberg 1970 American English
17120 The Murderer Roy Heath 1978 Guyanese English
17120 Lamb Bernard MacLaverty 1980 Irish English
17120 The Night In Question Tobias Wolff 1996 American English
16951 Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance John Arden 1959 British English
17120 The Deemster Hall Caine 1887 British English
17120 The Atonement Of Leam Dundas Eliza Lynn Linton 1876 British English
17120 If Morning Ever Comes Anne Tyler 1964 American English
16812 Judas Iscariot Leonid Andreyev 1907 Russian Russian
17120 We Were Liars E. Lockhart 2014 American English