The Greatest Tragedy 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
3954 The Plant, The Well, The Angel Vassilis Vassilikos 1963 Greek Unknown
3954 My Mother's Sin Georgios Vizyinos 1883 Greek Greek
3954 Η Τιμη Και Το Χρημα Konstantinos Theotokis 1914 Greek Greek
3954 Η Αυλή των Θαυμάτων Iakovos Kambanellis 1962 Greek Greek
3954 The Great Chimera M. Karagatsis 1953 Greek Greek
3954 Ελεγεία και Σάτιρες Kostas Karyotakis 1927 Greek Greek
3954 The Schoolmistress With The Golden Eyes Stratis Myrivilis 1933 Greek Greek
3954 Farewell Anatolia Dido Sotiriou 1962 Greek Greek
3954 Η Κερένια Κούκλα Konstantinos Christomanos 1899 Greek Greek
3954 The Hidden Way Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu 1933 Romanian Romanian
3954 Întunecare Cezar Petrescu 1927 Romanian Romanian
3954 The Last Night Of Love, The First Night Of War Camil Petrescu 1930 Romanian Romanian
3954 Ioana Anton Holban 1934 Romanian Romanian
3954 Jocurile Daniei Anton Holban 1935 Romanian Romanian
3954 Groapa Eugen Barbu 1957 Romanian Romanian
4069 The Story Of Lucy Gault William Trevor 2002 Irish English
4078 Birthday Letters Ted Hughes 1998 British English
4083 Death And The King's Horsemen Wole Soyinka 1975 Nigerian English
4091 The Little Tragedies Alexander Pushkin 1832 Russian Russian
4094 Los Santos Inocentes Miguel Delibes 1981 Spanish Spanish
4105 Poor Liza Nikolay Karamzin 1792 Russian Russian
4128 The Good Hope Herman Heijermans 1901 Dutch Dutch
4146 Krapp's Last Tape Samuel Beckett 1958 Irish English
4168 Miss Julie August Strindberg 1888 Swedish Swedish
4179 Geeraerdt Van Velsen P. C. Hooft 1613 Dutch Dutch
4179 Palamedes Joost van den Vondel 1625 Dutch Dutch
4216 Andromache Euripides -425 Greek Ancient greek
4219 Heracles Euripides -416 Greek Ancient greek
4218 Hecuba Euripides -424 Greek Ancient greek
4221 Iphigenia At Aulis Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
4234 Een Liefde Lodewijk van Deyssel 1887 Dutch Dutch
4253 Welcome To Hard Times E. L. Doctorow 1960 American English
4257 Scenes From The Past Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin 1869 Russian Russian
4277 In The Ravine Anton Chekhov 1900 Russian Russian
4285 A Rose for Emily William Faulkner 1930 American English
4310 Indiana George Sand 1832 French French
4379 Eyes Shut Federigo Tozzi 1919 Italian Italian
4377 The Truce Unknown 1963 Italian Spanish
4385 Flowers in the Attic V. C. Andrews 1979 American English
4384 A Tale Of Poor Lovers Vasco Pratolini 1947 Italian Italian
4408 The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea Yukio Mishima 1963 Japanese Japanese
4421 Trifles Susan Glaspell 1916 American English
4421 Desire Under The Elms Eugene O'Neill 1924 American English
4468 Covenant With Death John Harris 1961 British English
4483 The Duchess Of Malfi John Webster 1623 British English
4494 The Little Match Girl Unknown 1845 Unknown Danish
4505 Osadeni Dushi Dimitar Dimov 1945 Bulgarian Bulgarian
4526 Falconer John Cheever 1977 American English
4542 The Stone Of Laughter Hoda Barakat 1990 Lebanese Arabic
4557 The Blood Knot Athol Fugard 1961 South African English
4561 The Lady's Not For Burning Christopher Fry 1948 British English
4590 The Nickel Boys Colson Whitehead 2019 American English
4595 Last Night James Salter 2005 American English
4623 The Bride Of Lammermoor Sir Walter Scott 1819 Scottish English
4655 Tomorrow In The Battle Think On Me Javier Marias 1994 Spanish Spanish
4681 Skippy Dies Pauli Murray 2010 Irish English
4683 A Horse Walks Into A Bar David Grossman 2014 Israeli Hebrew
4732 Don Carlos Friedrich Schiller 1787 German German
4790 The Master Builder Henrik Ibsen 1892 Norwegian Norwegian
4803 Brand Henrik Ibsen 1866 Norwegian Norwegian
4830 Blaming Elizabeth Taylor 1976 British English
4879 The Cat Colette 1933 French French
4888 The Secret Scripture Sebastian Barry 2008 Irish English
4900 Titus Andronicus William Shakespeare 1594 British English
4900 The Tragedy Of Mariam Elizabeth Cary 1613 British English
4900 The Jew Of Malta Christopher Marlowe 1590 English English
4900 King John William Shakespeare 1700 British English
4942 Being Dead Jim Crace 1999 British English
4956 Lorenzaccio Alfred de Musset 1834 French French
4957 Thunder On The Left Christopher Morley 1925 American English
5021 Me Before You Jojo Moyes 2012 British English
5046 Chickamauga Ambrose Bierce 1889 American English
5046 Peter Ibbetson Daphne du Maurier 1891 British Unknown
5046 The Minister's Black Veil Nathaniel Hawthorne 1836 American English
5046 By Firelight Edith Pargeter 1948 British English
5089 The Butterfly Lovers Unknown -389 Chinese Chinese
5096 Sartoris William Faulkner 1929 American English
5103 Where Angels Fear to Tread E. M. Forster 1905 British English
5105 Abel Sánchez Miguel de Unamuno 1917 Spanish Spanish
5157 The Gadfly Ethel Lilian Voynich 1897 British English
5160 The Triumph Of Death Gabriele D'Annunzio 1894 Italian Italian
5255 Geur der droefenis Alfred Kossmann 1980 Dutch Dutch
5266 Anowa Ama Ata Aidoo 1970 Ghanaian English
5393 Complete Plays And Poems Christopher Marlowe 1587 British English
5458 Mercy Among The Children David Adams Richards 2000 Canadian English
5470 The Birthday Boys Beryl Bainbridge 1991 British English
5508 Seven Days In June Tia Williams 2021 American English
5511 Now in November Josephine Winslow Johnson 1934 American English
5590 The Chimera Sebastiano Vassalli 1990 Italian Italian
5604 Canada Richard Ford 2012 American English
5625 Wave Sonali Deraniyagala 2013 Sri Lankan English
5654 Reasons to Live Amy Hempel 1985 American English
5735 Anne Of The Thousand Days Maxwell Anderson 1950 American English
5745 Taebaek Sanmaek Jo Jung-rae 1986 South Korean Korean
5783 Giacinta Luigi Capuana 1879 Italian Italian
5783 L'agnese Va A Morire Renata Viganò 1949 Italian Italian
5836 Six Tragedies Seneca 54 Roman Latin
5850 Venice Preserv'd Thomas Otway 1682 British English
5853 Chatterton Alfred de Vigny 1835 French French
5889 House With The Green Shutters George Douglas Brown 1901 Scottish English
5939 Hurramabad Andrei Volos 1998 Russian Russian
5948 Separate Rooms Pier Vittorio Tondelli 1989 Italian Italian
6005 Chekhov's Selected Stories Anton Chekhov 1903 Russian Russian
6005 Ivanov Anton Chekhov 1887 Russian Russian
6005 The Flood Yevgeny Zamyatin 1929 Russian Russian
6155 Women As Lovers Elfriede Jelinek 1975 Austrian German
6205 The Earth Émile Zola 1887 French French
6273 Cold Nights Ba Jin 1947 Chinese Chinese
6275 Owls Do Cry Janet Frame 1957 New Zealand English
6277 The Narrow Road To The Deep North Richard Flanagan 2013 Australian English
6309 Hatter's Castle A. J. Cronin 1931 British English
6314 Every Man Dies Alone Hans Fallada 1947 German German
6482 Year Of Wonders Geraldine Brooks 2001 Australian English
6487 The Keepers of the House Shirley Ann Grau 1964 American English
6493 Life In The Iron Mills Rebecca Harding Davis 1861 American English
6508 Memories of Rain Sunetra Gupta 1992 Indian English
6539 Deliver Me From Eva Paul Bailey 2007 British Unknown
6558 Hernani Victor Hugo 1830 French French
6813 La Barraca Vicente Blasco Ibáñez 1898 Spanish Spanish
6821 The Swimmer John Cheever 1964 American English