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
1231 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
1932 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
2131 Seven Brothers Aleksis Kivi 1870 Finnish Finnish
2164 Bread Givers Anzia Yezierska 1925 American English
2267 A Grain Of Wheat Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1967 Kenyan English
2324 Being Mortal Atul Gawande 2014 American English
2372 The Vagabond Colette 1910 French French
2372 Roxana Daniel Defoe 1724 British English
2488 The Millstone Margaret Drabble 1965 British English
2540 Pilgrimage Dorothy Richardson 1915 British English
2543 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Winifred Watson 1938 British English
2662 Early Autumn Robert B. Parker 1980 American English
2676 Anne Of The Island L. M. Montgomery 1915 Canadian English
2704 My Brilliant Career Miles Franklin 1901 Australian English
2750 The Montessori Method Maria Montessori 1909 Italian Italian
2838 The Stone Angel Margaret Laurence 1964 Canadian English
2974 Johnny Tremain Esther Forbes 1943 American English
3096 Second-class Citizen Buchi Emecheta 1974 Nigerian English
3405 The Great Indian Novel Shashi Tharoor 1989 Indian English
3423 Common Sense Thomas Paine 1776 British English
3637 The Story Of My Life George Sand 1855 French French
3860 Ethiopia Unbound J. E. Casely Hayford 1911 Ghanaian English
3887 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
4506 Truman David McCullough 1992 American English
4555 Os Nacionalismos Africanos Mario de Andrade 1961 Brazilian Portuguese
4986 Territory Of Light Yuko Tsushima 1979 Japanese Japanese
4991 Utenzi Wa Vita Vya Uhuru Robert Bin Shabaan 1967 Tanzanian Swahili
5092 The Suns of Independence Ahmadou Kourouma 1968 French French
5183 The Struggle For Mozambique Eduardo Mondlane 1969 Mozambican English
5264 Anowa Ama Ata Aidoo 1970 Ghanaian English
5309 The Adams Jefferson Letters Lester J. Cappon 1959 American English
5381 Histoire De L'afrique Noire Joseph Ki-Zerbo 1972 French French
5686 The Friendly Young Ladies Mary Renault 1943 British English
5915 A Guest Of Honour Nadine Gordimer 1970 South African English
6099 Unity And Struggle Amilcar Cabral 1979 Guinean Portuguese
6202 A Geração Da Utopia Pepetela 1992 Angolan Portuguese
6256 The Allure Of Chanel Paul Morand 1976 French French
6490 A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains Isabella L. Bird 1879 British English
6491 Ruth Hall Fanny Fern 1854 American English
6491 The Story Of Avis Elizabeth Stuart Phelps 1877 American English
6499 Cosima Grazia Deledda 1937 Italian Italian
6502 The Coquette Hannah Webster Foster 1797 American English
6597 Benjamin Franklin Carl Van Doren 1938 American English
6604 Pavilion Of Women Pearl S. Buck 1946 American English
6672 India After Gandhi Ramachandra Guha 2007 Indian English
7215 Can You Forgive Her? Anthony Trollope 1864 British English
7817 Ties That Bind, Ties That Break Lensey Namioka 1999 American English
7819 Collected Stories Colette 1949 French French
7831 Elling Ingvar Ambjørnsen 1996 Norwegian Norwegian
8099 The Gates Of Europe Serhii Plokhy 2015 Ukrainian English
8105 The Dangerous Age Karin Michaelis 1910 Danish Danish
8105 The District Governor's Daughters Camilla Collett 1854 Norwegian Norwegian
8266 A Caribbean Heiress In Paris Adriana Herrera 2022 American English
8592 Homecoming Cynthia Voigt 1981 American English
8623 Lovesick Ángeles Mastretta 1996 Mexican Spanish
8765 John Adams David McCullough 2001 American English
8796 Ann Veronica H. G. Wells 1909 British English
8858 Mexico Enrique Krauze 1997 Mexican Spanish
9149 La Brecha Mercedes Valdivieso 1961 Chilean Spanish
9619 Efuru Flora Nwapa 1966 Nigerian English
10127 Dealing With Dragons Patricia C. Wrede 1990 American English
10373 The Mouse And The Motorcycle Beverly Cleary 1965 American English
10388 Basic Documents in American History Richard Brandon Morris 1958 American English
10398 Bata, Bata... Pa'no Ka Ginawa? Lualhati Bautista 1983 Filipino Filipino
10437 Dora, Doralina Rachel de Queiroz 1975 Brazilian Portuguese
10448 Washington's Crossing David Hackett Fischer 2004 American English
10448 The Cost of Living Deborah Levy 2018 British English
10448 Half Broke Horses Jeannette Walls 2009 American English
10524 Lumumba Speaks Patrice Lumumba 1967 Congolese French
10782 Washington Ron Chernow 2010 American English
10826 Child Of Fortune Yuko Tsushima 1978 Japanese Japanese
10987 Happenstance Carol Shields 1980 Canadian English
10993 How We Won The War Võ Nguyên Giáp 1976 Vietnamese Vietnamese
11134 Why Survive? Being Old in America Robert Neil Butler 1975 American English
11357 The Illustrated Mum Jacqueline Wilson 1999 British English
11426 Girls Out Late Jacqueline Wilson 1999 British English
11449 Early Autumn Louis Bromfield 1926 American English
11491 A Drama In Muslin George Moore 1886 Irish English
11579 Frangipani House Beryl Gilroy 1986 Caribbean English
11939 Edmund Pendleton 1721–1803 David J. Mays 1952 American English
11939 George Washington Douglas Southall Freeman 1948 American English
12258 Lady's Maid Margaret Forster 1990 British English
12513 Changes Ama Ata Aidoo 1991 Ghanaian English
13359 The Great Speeches And Orations Of Daniel Webster Daniel Webster 1851 American English
13359 Break Of Day Colette 1928 French French
13359 Toby Tyler James Otis 1881 American English
13532 The Writings Of Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson 1903 American English
13770 Garibaldi And The Thousand, May 1860 George Macaulay Trevelyan 1907 British English