The Greatest Social & Cultural Fiction Books of All Time

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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
2208 Trainspotting Irvine Welsh 1993 Scottish English
2211 Swordspoint Ellen Kushner 1987 American English
2212 Collected Stories W. Somerset Maugham 1951 British English
2221 Simon and the Oaks Marianne Fredriksson 1985 Swedish Swedish
2227 Exit West Mohsin Hamid 2017 Pakistani English
2229 A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles 2016 American English
2230 The Cathedral Folk Nikolai Leskov 1872 Russian Russian
2233 Resurrection Leo Tolstoy 1899 Russian Russian
2238 The Twilight Years Sawako Ariyoshi 1972 Japanese Japanese
2241 Collected Poems Arthur Rimbaud 1898 French French
2242 Milkman Anna Burns 2018 Irish English
2244 The Gathering Anne Enright 2007 Irish English
2258 Pale Horse, Pale Rider Katherine Anne Porter 1939 American English
2261 Appointment in Samarra John O'Hara 1934 American English
2260 The Iceman Cometh Eugene O'Neill 1946 American English
2267 A Grain Of Wheat Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 1967 Kenyan English
2268 The Jewel In The Crown Paul Scott 1966 British English
2269 The Virgin in the Garden A. S. Byatt 1978 British English
2270 The Nun Denis Diderot 1796 French French
2279 Poems of Eugenio Montale Eugenio Montale 1925 Italian Italian
2280 The Corner That Held Them Sylvia Townsend Warner 1948 British English
2288 Dancer From The Dance Andrew Holleran 1978 American English
2298 The Getting Of Wisdom Henry Handel Richardson 1910 Australian English
2302 Ironweed William Kennedy 1983 American English
2303 Machine Dreams Jayne Anne Phillips 1984 American English
2305 Stockholm series Per Anders Fogelström 1960 Swedish Swedish
2306 The Old Forest Peter Taylor 1985 American English
2312 Room At The Top John Braine 1957 British English
2313 The Left-Handed Woman Peter Handke 1976 Austrian German
2314 Ship Of Fools Katherine Anne Porter 1962 American English
2317 To The End Of The Land David Grossman 2008 Israeli Hebrew
2318 The Sacred Night Tahar Ben Jelloun 1987 Moroccan French
2321 Rituals Cees Nooteboom 1980 Dutch Dutch
2324 The Sixty Five Years Of Washington Juan José Saer 1983 Argentine Spanish
2326 What a Carve Up! Jonathan Coe 1994 British English
2331 Sunset Song Lewis Grassic Gibbon 1932 Scottish English
2334 Moderato Cantabile Marguerite Duras 1958 French French
2337 There There Tommy Orange 2018 American English
2342 Mastro Don Gesualdo Giovanni Verga 1889 Italian Italian
2344 Small Things Like These Claire Keegan 2021 Irish English
2347 A Summons to Memphis Peter Taylor 1986 American English
2351 The Salt Eaters Toni Cade Bambara 1980 American English
2352 The Box Man Kobo Abé 1973 Japanese Japanese
2354 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Dai Sijie 2000 Chinese French
2355 Enemies, A Love Story Isaac Bashevis Singer 1972 American Yiddish
2362 Our Nig Harriet E. Wilson 1859 American English
2363 Sybil Benjamin Disraeli 1845 British English
2373 The Vagabond Colette 1910 French French
2373 Roxana Daniel Defoe 1724 British English
2384 Don Segundo Sombra Ricardo Güiraldes 1926 Argentinian Spanish
2386 Viper’s Tangle François Mauriac 1932 French French
2393 Satantango László Krasznahorkai 1985 Hungarian Hungarian
2395 The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love Oscar Hijuelos 1989 American English
2398 Plumb Maurice Gee 1978 New Zealand English
2400 Remembering Babylon David Malouf 1993 Australian English
2402 The Charwoman's Daughter James Stephens 1912 Irish English
2404 The City Of Marvels Eduardo Mendoza 1986 Spanish Spanish
2407 Lust Elfriede Jelinek 1989 Austrian German
2409 That They May Face the Rising Sun John McGahern 2002 Irish English
2410 The Joys Of Motherhood Buchi Emecheta 1979 Nigerian English
2417 Bright Lights, Big City Jay McInerney 1984 American English
2425 Platform Michel Houellebecq 2001 French French
2428 A View From The Bridge Arthur Miller 1955 American English
2432 The Einstein Intersection Samuel R. Delany 1967 American English
2438 The Crow Road Iain Banks 1992 British English
2441 A Rage In Harlem Chester Himes 1957 American English
2442 How Green Was My Valley Richard Llewellyn 1939 British English
2445 The Space Merchants Frederik Pohl, C. M. Kornbluth 1952 American English
2446 The Map And The Territory Michel Houellebecq 2010 French French
2447 The Rector's Daughter F. M. Mayor 1924 British English
2452 Joy in the Morning P. G. Wodehouse 1946 British English
2455 By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept Elizabeth Smart 1945 Canadian English
2455 Frost In May Antonia White 1933 British English
2459 Shirley Charlotte Brontë 1849 British English
2460 Lark Rise To Candleford Flora Thompson 1945 British English
2464 The Silent Duchess Dacia Maraini 1990 Italian Italian
2466 La Grande Maison Mohammed Dib 1952 Algerian French
2468 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
2473 Fall On Your Knees Ann-Marie MacDonald 1996 Canadian English
2479 Artemisia Anna Banti 1947 Italian Italian
2486 Small Island Andrea Levy 2004 British English
2488 Measuring the World Daniel Kehlmann 2005 German German
2489 The Millstone Margaret Drabble 1965 British English
2491 The Moon And Sixpence W. Somerset Maugham 1919 British English
2492 A Lesson Before Dying Ernest J. Gaines 1993 American English
2493 All Souls Javier Marias 1989 Spanish Spanish
2494 Miramar Naguib Mahfouz 1967 Egyptian Arabic
2497 Mortals Norman Rush 2003 American English
2503 Homegoing Yaa Gyasi 2016 Ghanaian English
2511 Life With A Star Jiří Weil 1949 Czech Czech
2512 On the Black Hill Bruce Chatwin 1982 British English
2515 The New Sorrows of Young W. Ulrich Plenzdorf 1972 German German
2537 Jazz Toni Morrison 1992 American English
2541 Pilgrimage Dorothy Richardson 1915 British English
2542 The Artamonov Business Maxim Gorky 1925 Russian Russian
2543 Camilla Fanny Burney 1796 British English
2544 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Winifred Watson 1938 British English
2547 The Thinking Reed Rebecca West 1936 British English
2546 Martín Fierro José Hernández 1872 Argentinian Spanish
2548 The Enormous Room E. E. Cummings 1922 American English
2548 Her Privates We Frederic Manning 1929 Australian English
2548 Bosnian Chronicle Ivo Andrić 1945 Bosnian Serbo-croatian
2548 Death in Rome Wolfgang Koeppen 1954 German German
2555 Amok Stefan Zweig 1922 Austrian German
2556 Dangling Man Saul Bellow 1944 American English
2554 Disobedience Alberto Moravia 1948 Italian Italian
2557 Keep the Aspidistra Flying George Orwell 1936 British English
2562 Segu Maryse Condé 1984 French French
2565 The Family Of Pascual Duarte Camilo José Cela 1942 Spanish Spanish
2568 Poesías Completas Antonio Machado 1940 Spanish Spanish
2574 Lad Albert Payson Terhune 1919 American English
2579 Les Contemplations Victor Hugo 1856 French French
2580 A Cup Of Rage Raduan Nassar 1978 Brazilian Portuguese
2583 Good Behaviour Molly Keane 1981 Irish English
2594 Tales Of Hulan River Xiao Hong 1942 Chinese Chinese
2597 Possessing the Secret of Joy Alice Walker 1992 American English
2598 A Fringe Of Leaves Patrick White 1976 Australian English
2600 Almost Transparent Blue Ryū Murakami 1976 Japanese Japanese
2605 The Conservationist Nadine Gordimer 1974 South African English
2610 Whatever Michel Houellebecq 1994 French French