The Greatest Books of All Time Set in Independence

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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
29 Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë 1847 British English
64 Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie 1981 Indian English
68 Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston 1937 American English
73 The Portrait of a Lady Henry James 1881 American English
93 Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 American English
173 A Room of One's Own Virginia Woolf 1929 British English
223 A House for Mr. Biswas V. S. Naipaul 1961 Trinidadian English
267 Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren 1945 Swedish Swedish
271 The Awakening Kate Chopin 1899 American English
288 Independent People Halldor Laxness 1934 Icelandic Icelandic
320 Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak 1963 American English
390 The Old Wives' Tale Arnold Bennett 1908 British English
424 A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen 1879 Norwegian Norwegian
647 Lolly Willowes Sylvia Townsend Warner 1926 British English
674 Far from the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy 1874 British English
1103 The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Anne Brontë 1848 British English
1232 Patience And Sarah Isabel Miller 1969 American English
1278 So Long a Letter Mariama Bâ 1980 Senegalese French
1319 The Story Of An African Farm Olive Schreiner 1883 South African English
1598 Ronia, The Robber's Daughter Astrid Lindgren 1981 Swedish Swedish
1654 O Pioneers! Willa Cather 1913 American English
1668 Solitude Caterina Albert 1905 Spanish Catalan
1812 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon 2003 British English
1889 Annie John Jamaica Kincaid 1985 Antiguan English
1904 The Diviners Margaret Laurence 1974 Canadian English
1933 On Self Reliance Ralph Waldo Emerson 1841 American English
1941 From The Mixed Up Files Of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler EL Konigsburg 1967 American English
2132 Seven Brothers Aleksis Kivi 1870 Finnish Finnish
2166 Bread Givers Anzia Yezierska 1925 American English
2268 A Grain Of Wheat Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1967 Kenyan English
2326 Being Mortal Atul Gawande 2014 American English
2374 The Vagabond Colette 1910 French French
2374 Roxana Daniel Defoe 1724 British English
2490 The Millstone Margaret Drabble 1965 British English
2542 Pilgrimage Dorothy Richardson 1915 British English
2545 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Winifred Watson 1938 British English
2663 Early Autumn Robert B. Parker 1980 American English
2677 Anne Of The Island L. M. Montgomery 1915 Canadian English
2705 My Brilliant Career Miles Franklin 1901 Australian English
2752 The Montessori Method Maria Montessori 1909 Italian Italian
2841 The Stone Angel Margaret Laurence 1964 Canadian English
2977 Johnny Tremain Esther Forbes 1943 American English
3098 Second-class Citizen Buchi Emecheta 1974 Nigerian English
3406 The Great Indian Novel Shashi Tharoor 1989 Indian English
3424 Common Sense Thomas Paine 1776 British English
3637 The Story Of My Life George Sand 1855 French French
3859 Ethiopia Unbound J. E. Casely Hayford 1911 Ghanaian English
3886 The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Robert A. Heinlein 1966 American English
3953 Μπολιβαρ Nikos Engonopoulos 1944 Greek Greek
4205 Ghana Kwame Nkrumah 1957 Ghanaian English
4213 Miss Sophie's Diary And Other Stories Ding Ling 1928 Chinese Chinese
4309 Pointed Roofs Dorothy Richardson 1915 British English
4309 The Three Sisters May Sinclair 1914 British English
4309 The Odd Women George Gissing 1893 British English
4403 The L Shaped Room Lynne Reid Banks 1960 British English
4507 Truman David McCullough 1992 American English
4556 Os Nacionalismos Africanos Mario de Andrade 1961 Brazilian Portuguese
4989 Territory Of Light Yuko Tsushima 1979 Japanese Japanese
4994 Utenzi Wa Vita Vya Uhuru Robert Bin Shabaan 1967 Tanzanian Swahili
5095 The Suns of Independence Ahmadou Kourouma 1968 French French
5186 The Struggle For Mozambique Eduardo Mondlane 1969 Mozambican English
5266 Anowa Ama Ata Aidoo 1970 Ghanaian English
5311 The Adams Jefferson Letters Lester J. Cappon 1959 American English
5384 Histoire De L'afrique Noire Joseph Ki-Zerbo 1972 French French
5689 The Friendly Young Ladies Mary Renault 1943 British English
5918 A Guest Of Honour Nadine Gordimer 1970 South African English
6102 Unity And Struggle Amilcar Cabral 1979 Guinean Portuguese
6205 A Geração Da Utopia Pepetela 1992 Angolan Portuguese
6259 The Allure Of Chanel Paul Morand 1976 French French
6492 A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains Isabella L. Bird 1879 British English
6493 Ruth Hall Fanny Fern 1854 American English
6493 The Story Of Avis Elizabeth Stuart Phelps 1877 American English
6501 Cosima Grazia Deledda 1937 Italian Italian
6504 The Coquette Hannah Webster Foster 1797 American English
6599 Benjamin Franklin Carl Van Doren 1938 American English
6606 Pavilion Of Women Pearl S. Buck 1946 American English
6673 India After Gandhi Ramachandra Guha 2007 Indian English
7216 Can You Forgive Her? Anthony Trollope 1864 British English
7818 Ties That Bind, Ties That Break Lensey Namioka 1999 American English
7820 Collected Stories Colette 1949 French French
7832 Elling Ingvar Ambjørnsen 1996 Norwegian Norwegian
8101 The Gates Of Europe Serhii Plokhy 2015 Ukrainian English
8107 The Dangerous Age Karin Michaelis 1910 Danish Danish
8107 The District Governor's Daughters Camilla Collett 1854 Norwegian Norwegian
8268 A Caribbean Heiress In Paris Adriana Herrera 2022 American English
8596 Homecoming Cynthia Voigt 1981 American English
8627 Lovesick Ángeles Mastretta 1996 Mexican Spanish
8770 John Adams David McCullough 2001 American English
8801 Ann Veronica H. G. Wells 1909 British English
8862 Mexico Enrique Krauze 1997 Mexican Spanish
9154 La Brecha Mercedes Valdivieso 1961 Chilean Spanish
9623 Efuru Flora Nwapa 1966 Nigerian English
10131 Dealing With Dragons Patricia C. Wrede 1990 American English
10378 The Mouse And The Motorcycle Beverly Cleary 1965 American English
10393 Basic Documents in American History Richard Brandon Morris 1958 American English
10403 Bata, Bata... Pa'no Ka Ginawa? Lualhati Bautista 1983 Filipino Filipino
10442 Dora, Doralina Rachel de Queiroz 1975 Brazilian Portuguese
10453 Washington's Crossing David Hackett Fischer 2004 American English
10453 The Cost of Living Deborah Levy 2018 British English
10453 Half Broke Horses Jeannette Walls 2009 American English
10530 Lumumba Speaks Patrice Lumumba 1967 Congolese French
10788 Washington Ron Chernow 2010 American English
10832 Child Of Fortune Yuko Tsushima 1978 Japanese Japanese
10992 Happenstance Carol Shields 1980 Canadian English
10999 How We Won The War Võ Nguyên Giáp 1976 Vietnamese Vietnamese
11140 Why Survive? Being Old in America Robert Neil Butler 1975 American English
11362 The Illustrated Mum Jacqueline Wilson 1999 British English
11431 Girls Out Late Jacqueline Wilson 1999 British English
11454 Early Autumn Louis Bromfield 1926 American English
11494 A Drama In Muslin George Moore 1886 Irish English
11581 Frangipani House Beryl Gilroy 1986 Caribbean English
11940 Edmund Pendleton 1721–1803 David J. Mays 1952 American English
11940 George Washington Douglas Southall Freeman 1948 American English
12259 Lady's Maid Margaret Forster 1990 British English
12515 Changes Ama Ata Aidoo 1991 Ghanaian English
13362 The Great Speeches And Orations Of Daniel Webster Daniel Webster 1851 American English
13362 Break Of Day Colette 1928 French French
13362 Toby Tyler James Otis 1881 American English
13533 The Writings Of Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson 1903 American English
13771 Garibaldi And The Thousand, May 1860 George Macaulay Trevelyan 1907 British English