The Greatest Books of All Time on Relationships

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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
2 In Search of Lost Time Marcel Proust 1913 French French
13 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen 1813 British English
44 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1943 French French
61 The Golden Notebook Doris May Lessing 1962 British English
62 The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway 1926 American English
63 Under the Volcano Malcolm Lowry 1947 British English
67 A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway 1929 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
82 The Man Without Qualities Robert Musil 1930 Austrian German
141 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh 1945 British English
144 Sons and Lovers D. H. Lawrence 1913 British English
158 Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys 1966 British English
167 Giovanni's Room James Baldwin 1956 American English
174 Rabbit, Run John Updike 1960 American English
182 The Moviegoer Walker Percy 1961 American English
186 Bonjour Tristesse Francoise Sagan 1954 French French
192 Persuasion Jane Austen 1817 British English
195 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
196 Lady Chatterley's Lover D. H. Lawrence 1928 British English
204 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro 1989 British English
210 Dangerous Liaison Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 1782 French French
227 Women in Love D. H. Lawrence 1920 British English
235 The Ambassadors Henry James 1903 American English
269 Nightwood Djuna Barnes 1936 American English
287 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy 1895 British English
289 A Room With a View E. M. Forster 1908 British English
299 Kristin Lavransdatter Sigrid Undset 1920 Norwegian Norwegian
318 If on a Winter's Night a Traveller Italo Calvino 1979 Italian Italian
336 Sister Carrie Theodore Dreiser 1900 American English
376 The Golden Bowl Henry James 1904 American English
392 Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis 1954 British English
394 Nadja André Breton 1928 French French
420 The Human Stain Philip Roth 2000 American English
424 A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen 1879 Norwegian Norwegian
425 Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen 1811 British English
433 Play It As It Lays Joan Didion 1970 American English
442 The Magus John Fowles 1965 British English
443 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
445 I'm Not Stiller Max Frisch 1954 Swiss German
452 A Heart So White Javier Marias 1992 Spanish Spanish
454 The Sea, The Sea Iris Murdoch 1978 British English
469 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
472 The Man Who Loved Children Christina Stead 1940 Australian English
473 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
485 Adam Bede George Eliot 1859 British English
488 The Shipping News Annie Proulx 1993 Canadian English
490 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 1911 American English
493 Auto Da Fé Elias Canetti 1935 Bulgarian German
503 Pamela Samuel Richardson 1740 British English
520 Mansfield Park Jane Austen 1814 British English
525 Family Sayings Natalia Ginzburg 1963 Italian Italian
546 Jealousy Alain Robbe-Grillet 1957 French French
555 The Lady with the Dog Anton Chekhov 1899 Russian Russian
570 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
575 I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith 1948 British English
587 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
600 Nine Stories J. D. Salinger 1953 American English
607 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
631 The Bridge of San Luis Rey Thornton Wilder 1927 American English
641 Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding 1996 British English
651 Manhattan Transfer John Dos Passos 1925 American English
657 The Elementary Particles Michel Houellebecq 1998 French French
688 From Here to Eternity James Jones 1951 American English
700 Tales of the City Armistead Maupin 1978 American English
711 Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes 1959 American English
717 A Sport and a Pastime James Salter 1967 American English
718 Possession A. S. Byatt 1990 British English
734 Loving Henry Green 1945 British English
737 The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton 1913 American English
747 Blonde Joyce Carol Oates 2000 American English
753 Henderson The Rain King Saul Bellow 1959 American English
755 The Well of Loneliness Radclyffe Hall 1928 British English
759 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
765 The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough 1977 Australian English
766 Adolphe Benjamin Constant 1816 Swiss French
789 The Piano Teacher Elfriede Jelinek 1983 Austrian German
791 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn 2012 American English
805 Gaudy Night Dorothy L. Sayers 1935 British English
826 Voss Patrick White 1957 Australian English
827 Fear of Flying Erica Jong 1973 American English
834 Story of O Pauline Reage 1954 French French
836 Second Thoughts Michel Butor 1957 French French
842 Outlander Diana Gabaldon 1991 American English
846 A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy Laurence Sterne 1768 British English
868 Henry James Leon Edel 1953 American English
884 Homo Faber Max Frisch 1957 Swiss German
890 High Fidelity Nick Hornby 1995 British English
895 The Ravishing of Lol Stein Marguerite Duras 1964 French French
898 My Struggle Karl Ove Knausgård 2009 Norwegian Norwegian
902 Under the Net Iris Murdoch 1954 British English
912 The Making of Americans Gertrude Stein 1925 American English
915 Malina Ingeborg Bachmann 1971 Austrian German
924 Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver 1988 American English
953 Trent's Last Case E. C. Bentley 1913 British English
954 Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw 1913 British English
960 The Gift Vladimir Nabokov 1938 Russian Russian
967 The Heat of the Day Elizabeth Bowen 1949 British English
975 The Reader Bernhard Schlink 1995 German German
977 Couples John Updike 1968 American English
982 Speedboat Renata Adler 1976 American English
1000 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
1006 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Alan Sillitoe 1958 British English
1009 Love Story Eric Segal 1970 American English
1026 Murphy Samuel Beckett 1938 Irish English
1039 Birds of America Lorrie Moore 1998 American English
1044 A Ghost at Noon Alberto Moravia 1954 Italian Italian
1047 The Egoist George Meredith 1879 British English
1056 Maurice E. M. Forster 1971 British English
1060 Fun Home Alison Bechdel 2006 American English
1061 First Love Ivan Turgenev 1860 Russian Russian
1072 Gösta Berling's Saga Selma Lagerlöf 1891 Swedish Swedish
1095 The Swimming-Pool Library Alan Hollinghurst 1988 British English
1096 The Transit of Venus Shirley Hazzard 1980 Australian English
1101 Outline Rachel Cusk 2014 British English
1105 The Chill Ross Macdonald 1964 American English
1107 The Passion Jeanette Winterson 1987 British English
1128 The Price Of Salt Patricia Highsmith 1952 American English
1129 The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri 2003 American English
1132 Fanny Hill John Cleland 1748 British English