The Greatest Books of All Time on Marriage

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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
10 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy 1877 Russian Russian
13 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen 1813 British English
19 The Bible Unknown -1400 Jewish Hebrew, aramaic, greek
20 Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert 1857 French French
27 To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf 1927 British English
28 Middlemarch George Eliot 1871 British English
32 Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf 1925 British English
47 David Copperfield Charles Dickens 1849 British English
58 Gone With the Wind Margaret Mitchell 1936 American English
68 Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston 1937 American English
73 The Portrait of a Lady Henry James 1881 American English
83 Emma Jane Austen 1815 British English
85 The Good Soldier Ford Madox Ford 1915 British English
90 Buddenbrooks Thomas Mann 1901 German German
92 The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton 1920 American English
105 Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray 1847 British English
117 Tess of the d'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy 1891 British English
121 Bleak House Charles Dickens 1852 British English
128 The Stories of Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov 1900 Russian Russian
134 Tom Jones Henry Fielding 1749 British English
139 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins 1860 British English
140 The Second Sex Simone de Beauvoir 1949 French French
147 Confessions of Zeno Italo Svevo 1923 Italian Italian
158 Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys 1966 British English
166 Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel García Márquez 1985 Colombian Spanish
168 Tender Is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald 1934 American English
192 Persuasion Jane Austen 1817 British English
196 Lady Chatterley's Lover D. H. Lawrence 1928 British English
197 Howards End E. M. Forster 1910 British English
217 The House of Mirth Edith Wharton 1905 American English
223 A House for Mr. Biswas V. S. Naipaul 1961 Trinidadian English
227 Women in Love D. H. Lawrence 1920 British English
235 The Ambassadors Henry James 1903 American English
237 The Corrections Jonathan Franzen 2001 American English
246 The Forsyte Saga John Galsworthy 1906 British English
256 Babbitt Sinclair Lewis 1922 American English
271 The Awakening Kate Chopin 1899 American English
273 The Betrothed Alessandro Manzoni 1827 Italian Italian
277 The Pickwick Papers Charles Dickens 1836 British English
281 The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck 1931 American English
287 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy 1895 British English
299 Kristin Lavransdatter Sigrid Undset 1920 Norwegian Norwegian
307 Medea Euripides -431 Greek Ancient greek
322 Household Tales Brothers Grimm 1812 German German
325 A Dance to the Music of Time Anthony Powell 1951 British English
330 Dubliners James Joyce 1914 Irish English
332 Clarissa Samuel Richardson 1748 British English
337 Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare 1597 British English
338 Effi Briest Theodor Fontane 1895 German German
341 The Human Comedy Honoré de Balzac 1830 French French
346 The Castle of Otranto Horace Walpole 1764 British English
351 Moll Flanders Daniel Defoe 1722 British English
352 The Vicar of Wakefield Oliver Goldsmith 1766 British English
358 The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy 1886 British English
365 Eugene Onegin Alexander Pushkin 1833 Russian Russian
370 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
376 The Golden Bowl Henry James 1904 American English
382 Parade's End Ford Madox Ford 1924 British English
386 La Regenta Clarín 1884 Spanish Spanish
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
409 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
424 A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen 1879 Norwegian Norwegian
425 Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen 1811 British English
437 Passing Nella Larsen 1929 American English
439 North and South Elizabeth Gaskell 1855 British English
452 A Heart So White Javier Marias 1992 Spanish Spanish
462 The Prophet Kahlil Gibran 1923 Lebanese English
467 A Handful of Dust Evelyn Waugh 1934 British English
468 Daniel Deronda George Eliot 1876 British English
472 The Man Who Loved Children Christina Stead 1940 Australian English
473 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
484 Dream of the Red Chamber Cao Xueqin 1754 Chinese Chinese
490 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 1911 American English
498 The Immoralist André Gide 1902 French French
503 Pamela Samuel Richardson 1740 British English
504 Her Lover Albert Cohen 1968 Swiss French
505 The Quran Unknown 610 Arabic Arabic
510 Eugenie Grandet Honoré de Balzac 1833 French French
520 Mansfield Park Jane Austen 1814 British English
523 Fortunata and Jacinta Benito Pérez Galdós 1887 Spanish Spanish
533 Cousin Bette Honoré de Balzac 1846 French French
546 Jealousy Alain Robbe-Grillet 1957 French French
555 The Lady with the Dog Anton Chekhov 1899 Russian Russian
564 Main Street Sinclair Lewis 1920 American English
572 Three Sisters Anton Chekhov 1901 Russian Russian
575 I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith 1948 British English
589 Bel Ami Guy de Maupassant 1885 French French
591 Stories of Guy de Maupassant Guy de Maupassant 1880 French French
606 New Grub Street George Gissing 1891 British English
611 Revolutionary Road Richard Yates 1961 American English
619 The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles 1949 American English
622 Elective Affinities Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1809 German German
632 Dom Casmurro Machado de Assis 1899 Brazilian Portuguese
643 Silas Marner George Eliot 1861 British English
658 Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner 1971 American English
660 The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett 1934 American English
674 Far from the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy 1874 British English
678 Barchester Towers Anthony Trollope 1857 British English
679 The Expedition of Humphry Clinker Tobias Smollett 1771 British English
686 Rabbit Is Rich John Updike 1981 American English
691 Excellent Women Barbara Pym 1952 British English
703 The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope 1875 British English
709 The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan 1963 American English
729 Thérèse Desqueyroux François Mauriac 1927 French French
734 Loving Henry Green 1945 British English
735 A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth 1993 Indian English
737 The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton 1913 American English
739 The Return of the Native Thomas Hardy 1878 British English
752 Poems Of Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy 1898 British English
760 Decline and Fall Evelyn Waugh 1928 British English
767 The Tree of Man Patrick White 1955 Australian English
774 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman Mary Wollstonecraft 1792 British English
785 The Stechlin Theodor Fontane 1898 German German
791 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn 2012 American English
804 The Vegetarian Han Kang 2007 Korean Korean
827 Fear of Flying Erica Jong 1973 American English
845 Evelina Fanny Burney 1778 British English
852 The Last Chronicle of Barset Anthony Trollope 1867 British English