The Greatest Social & Cultural Fiction Books Since 2018

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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
1110 The Overstory Richard Powers 2018 American English
1983 The Great Believers Rebecca Makkai 2018 American English
2107 Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver 2022 American English
2242 Milkman Anna Burns 2018 Irish English
2337 There There Tommy Orange 2018 American English
2344 Small Things Like These Claire Keegan 2021 Irish English
2706 Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli 2019 Mexican English
2736 Severance Ling Ma 2018 American English
2806 James Percival Everett 2024 American English
2829 Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin 2022 American English
2883 Septology Jon Fosse 2019 Norwegian Norwegian
3172 The Bee Sting Paul Murray 2023 Irish English
3467 Kudos Rachel Cusk 2018 British English
3506 The Most Secret Memory Of Men Mohamed Mbougar Sarr 2021 Senegalese French
3532 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 2019 British English
3599 Daisy Jones & The Six Taylor Jenkins Reid 2019 American English
3613 The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett 2020 American English
4155 Asymmetry Lisa Halliday 2018 American English
4161 No One Is Talking About This Patricia Lockwood 2021 American English
4415 Detransition, Baby Torrey Peters 2021 American English
4470 Intermezzo Sally Rooney 2024 Irish English
4505 North Woods Daniel Mason 2023 American English
4588 The Nickel Boys Colson Whitehead 2019 American English
4617 Deacon King Kong James McBride 2020 American English
4827 The Largesse of the Sea Maiden Denis Johnson 2018 American English
4865 The Love Songs Of W.E.B. Dubois Honorée Fanonne Jeffers 2021 American English
5355 Praiseworthy Alexis Wright 2024 Australian English
5462 The Animals In That Country Laura Jean McKay 2020 Australian English
5507 Seven Days In June Tia Williams 2021 American English
5529 The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store James McBride 2023 American English
5623 Biography Of X Catherine Lacey 2023 American English
5633 Sabrina Nick Drnaso 2018 American English
5651 Nothing To See Here Kevin Wilson 2019 American English
5693 Night Boat To Tangier Kevin Barry 2019 Irish English
5962 This Is Happiness Niall Williams 2019 Irish English
6333 The Night Watchman Louise Erdrich 2020 American English
6340 No No Boy John Okada 2024 American English
6368 The Safekeep Yael van der Wouden 2024 Unknown Unknown
6442 Tomb Of Sand Geetanjali Shree 2018 Indian Hindi
6461 Never Did The Fire Diamela Eltit 2022 Chilean Spanish
6525 The Mars Room Rachel Kushner 2018 American English
6582 Freshwater Akwaeke Emezi 2018 Nigerian English
6598 Long Island Colm Toibin 2024 Irish Unknown
6710 The Old Drift Namwali Serpell 2019 Zambian English
6837 Yellowface R. F. Kuang 2023 American English
6851 Apeirogon Colum McCann 2020 Irish English
6853 Kairos Jenny Erpenbeck 2023 German German
6947 Ducks, Newburyport Lucy Ellmann 2019 British English
7213 Prophet Song Paul Lynch 2023 Irish English
7212 Question 7 Richard Flanagan 2023 Unknown English
7563 Enter Ghost Isabella Hammad 2023 British English
7621 Dropbear Evelyn Araluen 2021 Australian English
7756 Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart 2020 Scottish English
7780 The Pairing Casey McQuiston 2024 Unknown English
7783 My Friends Hisham Matar 2024 British Unknown
7889 The Dog Star Agneta Pleijel 2023 Swedish Swedish
8094 The Dictionary Of Lost Words Pip Williams 2020 Australian English
8220 The Heart In Winter Kevin Barry 2024 Irish English
8224 The Lincoln Highway Amor Towles 2021 American English
8259 Trespasses Louise Kennedy 2022 Irish English
8267 A Caribbean Heiress In Paris Adriana Herrera 2022 American English
8267 You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty Akwaeke Emezi 2022 Nigerian English
8438 The Death of Vivek Oji Akwaeke Emezi 2020 Nigerian English
8565 Witness Jamel Brinkley 2023 American English
8590 The Promise Damon Galgut 2021 South African English
8602 Small Rain Garth Greenwell 2024 Unknown English
8620 Carnality Lina Wolff 2019 Swedish Swedish
8641 The Fraud Zadie Smith 2023 British English
8666 Liliana's Invincible Summer Cristina Rivera Garza 2023 Mexican Spanish
8814 Loot Tania James 2023 Unknown English
8852 I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home Lorrie Moore 2023 American English
8855 The Water Dancer Ta-Nehisi Coates 2019 American English
8871 When Katie Met Cassidy Camille Perri 2018 American English
8935 The White Girl Tony Birch 2019 Australian English
8948 The Wren, The Wren Anne Enright 2023 Irish English
9026 The Other Americans Laila Lalami 2019 Moroccan English
9039 Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here Jonathan Blitzer 2024 Unknown English
9048 The Sun Walks Down Fiona McFarlane 2022 Australian English
9064 Soldiers And Kings Jason De León 2024 Unknown English
9070 Old God's Time Sebastian Barry 2023 Irish English
9079 Good Material Dolly Alderton 2024 British English
9097 Of Strangers And Bees Hamid Ismailov 2019 Uzbek Uzbek
9097 Rock, Paper, Scissors And Other Stories Maxim Osipov 2019 Russian Russian
9097 Life Went On Anyway Oleg Sentsov 2019 Ukrainian Russian
9181 Red Clocks Leni Zumas 2018 American English
9260 The Memory Police Yōko Ogawa 2024 Japanese Japanese
9261 The Candy House Jennifer Egan 2022 American English
9261 A Children’s Bible Lydia Millet, Xe Sands 2020 American English
9278 The Alternatives Caoilinn Hughes 2024 Irish English
9287 Cemetery Boys Aiden Thomas 2020 American English
9287 Spoiler Alert Olivia Dade 2020 American English
9315 Memory Rose Into Threshold Speech Paul Celan 2020 German German
9315 My Husband Rumena Bužarovska 2020 Macedonian Macedonian
9590 A Kind Of Spark Elle McNicoll 2020 Scottish English
9600 Girl Edna O'Brien 2019 Irish English
9608 Leonard And Hungry Paul Rónán Hession 2019 Irish English
9622 Abisul Luminat Nicolae Balotă 2018 Romanian Unknown
9625 This Hostel Life Melatu Uche Okorie 2018 Irish English
9657 F Letter Galina Rymbu, Eugene Ostashevsky, Ainsley Morse 2021 Russian Russian
9657 The King Of The Rattling Spirits Miha Mazzini 2021 Slovenian Slovenian
9674 Easy Reading Cristina Morales 2018 Spanish Spanish
9678 Ordesa Manuel Vilas 2018 Spanish Spanish
9720 Someone You Can Build A Nest In John Wiswell 2024 Unknown English
9740 The Fire Starters Jan Carson 2019 Irish English
9761 Show Them A Good Time Nicole Flattery 2019 Irish English
9763 Shadowplay Joseph O'Connor 2019 Irish English
9766 Un Attieké Pour Elgass Tierno Monenembo 2021 French French
9767 The Narrow Land Christine Dwyer Hickey 2019 Irish English
9799 Blak Work Alison Whittaker 2018 Australian English
9799 The Shepherd's Hut Tim Winton 2018 Australian English
9851 Exciting Times Naoise Dolan 2020 Irish English
9852 Afterlives Abdulrazak Gurnah 2020 British English
9892 Falling Is Like Flying Manon Uphoff 2019 Dutch Dutch
9900 디디의 우산 황정은 2019 Korean Korean
9912 Your House Will Pay Steph Cha 2019 American English
9915 Crooked Plow Itamar Vieira Junior 2019 Brazilian Portuguese
9953 Actress Anne Enright 2020 Irish English
9954 Big Girl, Small Town Michelle Gallen 2020 Irish English
9969 Chai Time At Cinnamon Gardens Shankari Chandran 2022 Unknown English
9971 Gebrek Is Een Groot Woord Nina Polak 2018 Dutch Dutch