The Greatest British Books of All Time on Memory

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
27 To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf 1927 British English
32 Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf 1925 British English
204 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro 1989 British English
226 The Alexandria Quartet Lawrence Durrell 1957 British English
454 The Sea, The Sea Iris Murdoch 1978 British English
479 Four Quartets T. S. Eliot 1943 British English
602 The Go-Between L. P. Hartley 1953 British English
752 Poems Of Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy 1898 British English
812 Collected Poems of T.S. Eliot T. S. Eliot 1963 British English
988 Flaubert's Parrot Julian Barnes 1984 British English
1015 Justine Lawrence Durrell 1957 British English
1070 Birdsong Sebastian Faulks 1993 British English
1077 Cider with Rosie Laurie Lee 1959 British English
1100 Collected Poems Of Edward Thomas Edward Thomas 1920 British English
1101 Outline Rachel Cusk 2014 British English
1139 The Unquiet Grave Cyril Connolly 1944 British English
1144 A Month In The Country J. L. Carr 1980 British English
1220 The Return of the Soldier Rebecca West 1918 British English
1355 Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas Dylan Thomas 1952 British English
1431 Cakes And Ale Or, The Skeleton In The Cupboard W. Somerset Maugham 1930 British English
1435 Life After Life Kate Atkinson 2013 British English
1552 Waterland Graham Swift 1983 British English
1554 The Unconsoled Kazuo Ishiguro 1995 British English
1611 The Prelude William Wordsworth 1850 British English
1638 Postwar Tony Judt 2005 British English
1769 Under Milk Wood Dylan Thomas 1954 British English
1827 Experience Martin Amis 2000 British English
1987 The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat Oliver Sacks 1985 British English
2032 In Parenthesis David Jones 1937 British English
2084 The Memoirs of a Survivor Doris May Lessing 1974 British English
2109 The Shell Seekers Rosamunde Pilcher 1987 British English
2142 Mythago Wood Robert Holdstock 1984 British English
2162 The Poetical Works Of William Wordsworth William Wordsworth 1807 British English
2165 Essays Charles Lamb 1823 British English
2219 The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes 2011 British English
2258 A History Of The World In 10 1/2 Chapters Julian Barnes 1989 British English
2336 How to be both Ali Smith 2014 British English
2417 Lyrical Ballads William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1798 British English
2439 The Crow Road Iain Banks 1992 British English
2525 Old Filth Jane Gardam 2004 British English
2640 The Child in Time Ian McEwan 1987 British English
2644 The Complete Poems And Plays T. S. Eliot 1952 British English
2727 Last Poems A. E. Housman 1922 British English
2807 The Art of Memory Frances A. Yates 1966 British English
3056 The Enigma of Arrival V. S. Naipaul 1987 British English
3068 An Artist of the Floating World Kazuo Ishiguro 1986 British English
3208 Briefing For A Descent Into Hell Doris May Lessing 1971 British English
3323 Eyeless in Gaza Aldous Huxley 1936 British English
3323 Back Henry Green 1946 British English
3404 The Unfortunates B. S. Johnson 1969 British English
3533 The Birthday Party Harold Pinter 1958 British English
3577 Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson 1995 British English
3585 A Single Man Christopher Isherwood 1964 British English
3637 Confessions of an English Opium-Eater Thomas de Quincey 1821 British English
3637 Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial Sir Thomas Browne 1658 British English
3809 A Pale View of Hills Kazuo Ishiguro 1982 British English
3848 Piranesi Susanna Clarke 2020 British English
3884 Mother London Michael Moorcock 1988 British English
3889 There But For The Ali Smith 2011 British English
4081 The White Hotel D. M. Thomas 1981 British English
4300 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
4310 A Girl In Winter Philip Larkin 1947 British English
4436 House Mother Normal B. S. Johnson 1971 British English
4482 The Private Papers Of Henry Ryecroft George Gissing 1903 British English
4515 The Rattle Bag Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney 1982 British English
4750 The Glamour Christopher Priest 1984 British English
4836 A Haunted Man And The Ghost's Bargain Charles Dickens 1848 British English
4942 Being Dead Jim Crace 1999 British English
4944 The Buried Giant Kazuo Ishiguro 2015 British English
4982 The Hare with Amber Eyes Edmund de Waal 2010 British English
5738 The Ghost Road Pat Barker 1995 British English
5739 Only Forward Michael Marshall Smith 1994 British English
5751 The Insult Rupert Thomson 1996 British English
5863 Poems Of John Clare John Clare 1820 British English
6237 The Affirmation Christopher Priest 1981 British English
6259 Moments Of Being Virginia Woolf 1976 British English
6366 Moon Tiger Penelope Lively 1987 British English
6508 Arcadia Jim Crace 1992 British English
6623 Looking For The Possible Dance A. L. Kennedy 1993 British English
6629 No Man's Land Harold Pinter 1975 British English
6841 Rapture Carol Ann Duffy 2005 British English
6867 Collected Poems Philip Larkin 1988 British English
6907 Spies Michael Frayn 2002 British English
6927 Travesties Tom Stoppard 1974 British English
7022 The Girl On The Train Paula Hawkins 2015 British English
7216 The Poems Of Walter Savage Landor Walter Savage Landor 1846 British English
7216 The Collected Writings Of Thomas De Quincey Thomas de Quincey 1889 British English
7216 Poems And Translations Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1870 British English
7216 Poems Of George Meredith George Meredith 1851 British English
7216 Poems Of Lionel Johnson Lionel Johnson 1895 British English
7216 Poetical Works Of Robert Bridges Robert Bridges 1912 British English
7216 Wolf Solent John Cowper Powys 1929 British English
7216 The Years Virginia Woolf 1937 British English
7216 Europe After The Rain Alan Burns 1965 British English
7216 The Long View Elizabeth Jane Howard 1956 British English
7772 Collected Poems Robert Graves 1948 British English
7911 Poems Of Keith Douglas Keith Douglas 1951 British English
7915 Musicophilia Oliver Sacks 2007 British English
7941 The Book Of Ebenezer Le Page G. B. Edwards 1981 British English
7967 Balthazar Lawrence Durrell 1958 British English
7984 The Ocean at the End of the Lane Neil Gaiman 2013 British English
8009 Poems Of Elizabeth Jennings Elizabeth Jennings 1953 British English
8009 Fire And Hemlock Diana Wynne Jones 1985 British English
8009 Still Life A. S. Byatt 1985 British English
8076 Clea Lawrence Durrell 1960 British English
8099 Day A. L. Kennedy 2007 British English
8241 How The Dead Live Will Self 2000 British English
8474 The Guyana Quartet Wilson Harris 1960 British English
8474 Textermination Christine Brooke-Rose 1992 British English
8609 Poems Of Roy Fuller Roy Fuller 1962 British English
8677 Collected Poems Wilfred Owen 1963 British English
8727 Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Dog Dylan Thomas 1940 British English
9038 From A To X John Berger 2008 British English
9076 Autumn Ali Smith 2016 British English
9187 Bruno's Dream Iris Murdoch 1969 British English
9187 By The Sea Abdulrazak Gurnah 2001 British English
9264 Nothing to be Frightened Of Julian Barnes 2008 British English
9366 Night Watch Terry Pratchett 2002 British English
9563 Continuous Tony Harrison 1981 British English
9645 Time's Arrow Martin Amis 1991 British English