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
6821 The Lost Weekend Charles Jackson 1944 American English
6846 King Solomon's Carpet Barbara Vine 1991 British English
6870 The Mother Grazia Deledda 1920 Italian Italian
6872 Eustace Chisholm And The Works James Purdy 1967 American English
7029 Il Resto Di Niente Enzo Striano 1986 Italian Italian
7086 Klotsvog Margarita Khemlin 2009 Russian Russian
7109 Ashes Stefan Zeromski 1904 Polish Polish
7122 Margot en de engelen Kristien Hemmerechts 1997 Belgian Dutch
7190 The Complete Plays Of Eugene O'neill Eugene O'Neill 1959 American English
7215 Saul Vittorio Alfieri 1782 Italian Italian
7215 The Spanish Tragedy Thomas Kyd 1587 British English
7215 Poems, Plays, And Masques Ben Jonson 1601 British English
7215 The Revenger's Tragedy Cyril Tourneur 1607 British English
7215 Mark Antony Robert Garnier 1578 French French
7215 Horace Pierre Corneille 1640 French French
7215 Five Plays Heinrich von Kleist 1808 German German
7215 Death's Jest Book Thomas Lovell Beddoes 1850 British English
7215 The Poems And Plays Of Thomas Wade Thomas Wade 1800 British English
7215 Ballads And Songs John Davidson 1894 British English
7215 Weir Of Hermiston Robert Louis Stevenson 1896 Scottish English
7215 Narrative Poems Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov 1830 Russian Russian
7215 The Infernal Machine And Other Works Jean Cocteau 1934 French French
7215 The Wheel Of Fire George Wilson Knight 1930 British English
7215 A Cool Million Nathanael West 1934 American English
7587 Commonwealth Ann Patchett 2016 American English
7622 The Little Red Chairs Edna O'Brien 2015 Irish English
7713 The Desert And Its Seed Jorge Barón Biza 1998 Argentine Spanish
7715 Three Tragedies Federico García Lorca 1947 Spanish Spanish
7909 Bad Day In Blackrock Kevin Power 2008 Irish English
7994 We The Living Ayn Rand 1936 American English
8105 Constance Ring Amalie Skram 1885 Norwegian Norwegian
8105 The Dangerous Age Karin Michaelis 1910 Danish Danish
8105 The Home Maker Dorothy Canfield Fisher 1924 American English
8207 Outer Dark Cormac McCarthy 1968 American English
8350 The Farming of Bones Edwidge Danticat 1998 Haitian English
8380 Guard of Honor James Gould Cozzens 1948 American English
8469 The Patrick Melrose Novels Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
8797 The Revenger's Tragedy Thomas Middleton 1606 British English
8832 The Flies Jean Paul Sartre 1943 French French
8967 The Shack William P. Young 2007 American English
8966 Asking For It Louise O'Neill 2015 Irish English
9084 Toys In The Attic Lillian Hellman 1960 American English
9150 La Brecha Mercedes Valdivieso 1961 Chilean Spanish
9166 Oleanna David Mamet 1992 American English
9227 Foal's Bread Gillian Mears 2011 Australian English
9232 The Natural Way Of Things Charlotte Wood 2015 Australian English
9373 The Passions Charlotte Dacre 1811 British English
9373 Bertram Charles Robert Maturin 1816 Irish English
9373 Zastrozzi Percy Bysshe Shelley 1810 British English
9373 The Mysterious Mother Horace Walpole 1768 British English
9373 The Iron Shroud William Mudford 1830 British English
9373 The Stone Dragon And Other Tragic Romances R. Murray Gilchrist 1894 British English
9540 Sofia Petrovna Lydia Chukovskaya 1965 Russian Russian
9557 Travelling In A Strange Land David Park 2018 Irish English
9570 Beneath The Wheel Hermann Hesse 1906 German German
9589 Alligator Lisa Moore 2005 Canadian English
9681 Broken Glass Arthur Miller 1994 American English
9715 The Crucible Arthur Miller 1953 American English
9789 Cry To Heaven Anne Rice 1982 American English
9960 Winner Of The National Book Award Jincy Willett 2003 American English
10177 B Utterfield 8 John O'Hara 1935 American English
10240 The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone Tennessee Williams 1950 American English
10497 The Fragility Of Goodness Martha C. Nussbaum 1986 American English
10539 Sweeney Todd Stephen Sondheim 1979 American English
10851 American Appetites Joyce Carol Oates 1989 American English
10921 Fools of Fortune William Trevor 1983 Irish English
11088 Heeresbericht Edlef Köppen 1930 German German
11088 Yellow Street Veza Canetti 1934 Unknown German
11088 Layli And Majnun Nezami Ganjavi 1188 Persian Persian
11157 Lie Down In Darkness William Styron 1951 American English
11176 Juletane Myriam Warner-Vieyra 1982 Senegalese French
11201 Ninety Three Victor Hugo 1874 French French
11466 The Real Charlotte Edith Somerville, Violet Florence Martin 1894 Irish English
11494 The Black Prophet William Carleton 1847 Irish English
11525 Orpheus and Eurydice Unknown -28 Unknown Ancient greek
11534 Thyestes Seneca 62 Roman Latin
11541 Humiliated And Insulted Fyodor Dostoevsky 1861 Russian Russian
11608 A Complicated Kindness Miriam Toews 2005 Canadian English
11627 Everyman Philip Roth 2006 American English
11660 The Association Of Small Bombs Karan Mahajan 2016 Indian English
11660 Macbeth Jo Nesbø 2018 Norwegian English
11881 The Barracks John McGahern 1963 Irish English
11899 Loving And Giving Molly Keane 1988 Irish English
11939 Oscar Wilde Richard Ellmann 1987 American English
12406 Slammerkin Emma Donoghue 2000 Irish English
12440 Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? Edward Albee 1962 American English
12716 Drowning Yu Dafu 1921 Chinese Chinese
13016 Fate In Tears And Laughter Chang Hen-shui 1925 Chinese Chinese
13276 Idaho Emily Ruskovich 2017 American English
13256 The Corpse Washer Sinan Antoon 2010 Iraqi Arabic
13304 The Death Of Yuli Xu Zhenya 1912 Chinese Chinese
13309 Threshold Of Spring Rou Shi 1932 Chinese Chinese
13335 Last Orders Graham Swift 1996 British English
13359 The Collegians Gerald Griffin 1829 Irish English
13359 Fardorougha, The Miser William Carleton 1837 Irish English
13359 The First Folio Of Shakespeare William Shakespeare 1623 English Early modern english
13599 The Call Of The Soil Adrien Bertrand 1916 French French
13599 Le Supplice De Phèdre Henri Deberly French French
13599 Captain Conan Roger Vercel 1934 French English
13599 Sang Et Lumières Joseph Peyre French French
13599 The Lost Shore Anna Langfus 1962 French French
13599 The Wedding Yann Queffélec 1985 French French
13599 Alabama Song Gilles Leroy 2007 French French
13711 The Greek Way Edith Hamilton 1930 American English
13715 Age Of Bronze Eric Shanower 2007 American English
13746 I Miss You, I Miss You! Peter Pohl 1992 Swedish Swedish
13878 Love Me Back Merritt Tierce 2014 American English
13941 The Siege Helen Dunmore 2001 British English
14078 Deaf Republic Ilya Kaminsky 2019 American English
14232 Topdog Underdog Suzan-Lori Parks 2001 American English
14232 Sweat Lynn Nottage 2015 American English
14232 The Sweet Hereafter Russell Banks 1991 American English
14410 Greek Tragedies 1 David Grene 1955 Unknown English
14425 The Summer My Mother Had Green Eyes Tatiana Țîbuleac 2016 Moldovan Romanian
14434 Train Pete Dexter 2003 American English
14495 Farewell To My Concubine Lilian Lee 1985 Chinese Chinese
14498 The Short Stories Of Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy 1988 British English
14519 The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald F. Scott Fitzgerald 1989 American English
14647 The Woman Thou Gavest Me Hall Caine 1913 British English
14664 Raise The Red Lantern Su Tong 1990 Chinese Chinese