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
5993 The Green Road Anne Enright 2015 Irish English
5998 The Cipher Kathe Koja 1991 American English
6000 Kate Vaiden Reynolds Price 1986 American English
6001 The Rehearsal Eleanor Catton 2008 New Zealand English
6002 Three Women Robert Musil 1924 Austrian German
6082 My Sister, The Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite 2018 Nigerian English
6083 Sundog Jim Harrison 1984 American English
6088 All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders 2016 American English
6089 Good Company Frances Partridge 1977 British English
6093 True Betrayals Nora Roberts 1995 American English
6095 Duke of Deception Geoffrey Wolff 1979 American English
6122 The First Garden Anne Hébert 1988 Canadian French
6131 L'hiver De Force Réjean Ducharme 1973 Canadian French
6152 Women As Lovers Elfriede Jelinek 1975 Austrian German
6185 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman Haruki Murakami 2006 Japanese Japanese
6200 The Bridge Iain Banks 1986 Scottish English
6207 Gimmick! Joost Zwagerman 1989 Dutch Dutch
6231 Sadie When She Died Ed McBain 1972 American English
6247 Great Apes Will Self 1997 British English
6253 Midwinter Break Bernard MacLaverty 2017 Irish English
6263 Pan In Oslo Knut Faldbakken 1985 Norwegian German
6277 Nothing Henry Green 1950 British English
6284 The Colour Of Murder Julian Symons 1957 British English
6306 Hatter's Castle A. J. Cronin 1931 British English
6309 Dance, Dance, Dance Haruki Murakami 1988 Japanese Japanese
6340 Another Country Karel Schoeman 1984 South African Afrikaans
6347 A Wild Sheep Chase Haruki Murakami 1982 Japanese Japanese
6360 Master Georgie Beryl Bainbridge 1998 British English
6359 Во сне ты горько плакал Yuri Kazakov 1995 Russian Russian
6360 The Restraint Of Beasts Magnus Mills 1998 British English
6360 Girlfriend In A Coma Douglas Coupland 1998 Canadian English
6375 Asterios Polyp David Mazzucchelli 2009 American English
6377 Jumpers Tom Stoppard 1972 British English
6379 Married Love Marie Stopes 1918 British English
6409 Live Flesh Ruth Rendell 1986 British English
6415 The Bonesetter's Daughter Amy Tan 2001 American English
6419 The Laws Connie Palmen 1991 Dutch Dutch
6419 Typical Padgett Powell 1991 American English
6437 The Snowman Jo Nesbø 2007 Norwegian Norwegian
6438 Who Will Run The Frog Hospital Lorrie Moore 1994 American English
6439 The Magic Barrel Bernard Malamud 1958 American English
6448 The Half Brother Lars Saabye Christensen 2001 Norwegian Norwegian
6455 The Needle's Eye Margaret Drabble 1972 British English
6458 A Gate at the Stairs Lorrie Moore 2009 American English
6459 Never Did The Fire Diamela Eltit 2022 Chilean Spanish
6475 Case Histories Kate Atkinson 2004 British English
6478 The Stoic Theodore Dreiser 1947 American English
6488 Happy Are The Happy Yasmina Reza 2013 French French
6489 Neither The Sea Nor The Sand Gordon Honeycombe 1969 British English
6501 The End Of The Road John Barth 1958 American English
6511 Incest Christine Angot 1999 French French
6528 The Hating Game Sally Thorne 2016 Australian English
6537 Deliver Me From Eva Paul Bailey 2007 British Unknown
6557 Prep Curtis Sittenfeld 2005 American English
6562 Avalanche Blaga Dimitrova 1980 Bulgarian Bulgarian
6566 The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants Ann Brashares 2001 American English
6567 Nice Work David Lodge 1988 British English
6601 Collected Stories Elizabeth Bowen 1980 Irish English
6621 Looking For The Possible Dance A. L. Kennedy 1993 British English
6621 Disappearance David Dabydeen 1993 Guyanese English
6627 Csárdás Diane Pearson 1975 British English
6621 A General Theory Of Love Thomas Lewis 2000 American English
6635 Savannah Bay Marguerite Duras 1983 French French
6645 The Builders Giorgos Heimonas 1996 Greek Greek
6649 Tratado das Paixões da Alma António Lobo Antunes 1990 Portuguese Portuguese
6655 Berittener Bogenschütze Brigitte Kronauer 1989 German German
6660 You Caroline Kepnes 2014 American English
6662 Preparation for the Next Life Atticus Lish 2014 American English
6673 Minor Characters Joyce Johnson 1983 American English
6685 Pain Zeruya Shalev 2015 Israeli Hebrew
6694 The Times Are Never So Bad Andre Dubus 1983 American English
6734 The Deep Blue Good By John D. MacDonald 1964 American English
6745 A Matter Of Feeling Janine Boissard 1985 French French
6747 Infanta Bodo Kirchhoff 1990 German German
6756 Breasts And Eggs Mieko Kawakami 2008 Japanese Japanese
6760 Difficult Loves Italo Calvino 1958 Italian Italian
6764 Odd Girls And Twilight Lovers Lillian Faderman 1991 American English
6806 Maudit Manège Philippe Djian 1986 French French
6816 Open Andre Agassi 2009 American English
6817 Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid 2017 American English
6821 Tales Of The Jazz Age F. Scott Fitzgerald 1922 American English
6821 Tracy's Tiger William Saroyan 1951 American English
6836 We are All Completely Beside Ourselves Karen Joy Fowler 2013 American English
6841 Rapture Carol Ann Duffy 2005 British English
6846 King Solomon's Carpet Barbara Vine 1991 British English
6850 A Little Sun In Cold Water Francoise Sagan 1969 French French
6865 Loupežník Karel Čapek 1988 Czech Czech
6871 The Field of Vision Wright Morris 1956 American English
6872 Eustace Chisholm And The Works James Purdy 1967 American English
6873 The End of the Story Lydia Davis 1995 American English
6878 Galantine De Volaille Pour Dames Frivoles San-Antonio 1987 French French
6891 Bared To You Sylvia Day 2012 American English
6893 Régimódi Történet Szabó, Magda 1977 Hungarian Hungarian
6903 Selected Poems II Margaret Atwood 1987 Canadian English
6913 With The Animals Noëlle Revaz 2002 Swiss French
6916 The Paper Menagerie And Other Stories Ken Liu 2016 American English
6954 We All Love Glenda So Much And Other Tales Julio Cortazar 1980 Argentinian Spanish
6964 The Seance and Other Stories Isaac Bashevis Singer 1968 Polish Yiddish
6984 Fine Just the Way It Is Annie Proulx 2008 American English
6992 Hallucinating Foucault Patricia Duncker 1996 British English
6992 A Light Comedy Eduardo Mendoza 1996 Spanish Spanish
6996 You Don't Love Yourself Nathalie Sarraute 1989 French French
7003 Le Bonheur De La Nuit Hélène Bessette 1954 French French
7004 The Collected Plays Of Noel Coward Noel Coward 1979 British English
7005 The Girl With The Pearl Earring Tracy Chevalier 1999 British English
7016 Original Bliss A. L. Kennedy 1997 British English
7021 The Girl On The Train Paula Hawkins 2015 British English
7023 La Vida Exagerada De Martín Romaña Alfredo Bryce Echenique 1981 Peruvian Spanish
7037 Bright Shiny Morning James Frey 2008 American English
7062 Then We Came To The End Joshua Ferris 2007 American English
7067 O Testamento Do Sr. Napumoceno Da Silva Araújo Germano Almeida 1989 Cape Verdean Portuguese
7080 The Blazing World Siri Hustvedt 2014 American English
7081 Hermina Sami Tchak 2003 French French
7086 Klotsvog Margarita Khemlin 2009 Russian Russian
7086 La Verità Sul Caso D. Carlo Fruttero, Franco Lucentini 1993 Italian Italian
7102 Nevada Imogen Binnie 2013 American English
7103 Get In Trouble Kelly Link 2015 American English
7115 Seven Years Peter Stamm 2009 Swiss German
7122 Margot en de engelen Kristien Hemmerechts 1997 Belgian Dutch
7122 Why We Love Helen Fisher 2004 American English