The Greatest Books of All Time on Trauma

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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
3438 The Needle's Eye Fanny Howe 1970 American English
3479 The Use Of Man Aleksandar Tišma 1976 Serbian Serbo-croatian
3497 The Thin Red Line James Jones 1962 American English
3506 Speak Laurie Halse Anderson 1999 American English
3565 The Eighth Life Nino Haratishvili 2014 Georgian German
3578 Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson 1995 British English
3579 Mercy Of A Rude Stream Henry Roth 1994 American English
3604 A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing Eimear McBride 2013 Irish English
3614 The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett 2020 American English
3623 The Atrocity Exhibition J. G. Ballard 1970 British English
3624 Sepharad Antonio Muñoz Molina 2001 Spanish Spanish
3638 War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Sassoon 1919 British English
3638 White Shroud Antanas Škėma 1958 Lithuanian Lithuanian
3828 Cloudstreet Tim Winton 1991 Australian English
3839 De Niro's Game Rawi Hage 2006 Canadian English
3854 The Girl Next Door Jack Ketchum 1989 American English
3859 Enduring Love Ian McEwan 1997 British English
3885 Mother London Michael Moorcock 1988 British English
3926 Half of Man is Woman Zhang Xianliang 1985 Chinese Chinese
3927 In The Woods Tana French 2007 Irish English
3928 The Poppy War R. F. Kuang 2018 Chinese English
3945 In The Dream House Carmen Maria Machado 2019 American English
3953 A Prisoner Of War’s Story Stratis Doukas 1929 Greek Greek
3953 Farewell Anatolia Dido Sotiriou 1962 Greek Greek
4080 The White Hotel D. M. Thomas 1981 British English
4105 Lange Schatten Marie Luise Kaschnitz 1960 German German
4116 Why Did I Ever? Mary Robison 2001 American English
4139 The Liars' Club Mary Karr 1995 American English
4158 We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families Philip Gourevitch 1998 American English
4291 Mystic River Dennis Lehane 2001 American English
4299 Remainder Tom McCarthy 2005 British English
4371 The Long Voyage Jorge Semprún 1963 French French
4443 A Long Long Way Sebastian Barry 2005 Irish English
4499 Mister Pip Lloyd Jones 2006 New Zealand English
4502 Parallel Stories Péter Nádas 2005 Hungarian Hungarian
4539 Affliction Russell Banks 1989 American English
4589 The Nickel Boys Colson Whitehead 2019 American English
4634 The Inability To Mourn Alexander Mitscherlich, Margarete Mitscherlich 1967 German German
4637 Darkmans Nicola Barker 2007 British English
4662 The Swan Book Alexis Wright 2013 Australian English
4668 Allah Is Not Obliged Ahmadou Kourouma 2000 French French
4682 A Horse Walks Into A Bar David Grossman 2014 Israeli Hebrew
4740 Tell Me How It Ends Valeria Luiselli 2017 Mexican English
4748 Blood Oranges John Hawkes 1971 American English
4749 The Glamour Christopher Priest 1984 British English
4803 Dictee Theresa Hak Kyung Cha 1982 American English
4829 Patterns of Childhood Christa Wolf 1976 German German
4866 The Love Songs Of W.E.B. Dubois Honorée Fanonne Jeffers 2021 American English
4887 The Secret Scripture Sebastian Barry 2008 Irish English
4949 Paper Children Mariana Marin 1987 Romanian Romanian
4999 Teach Us To Outgrow Our Madness Kenzaburō Ōe 1969 Japanese Japanese
4999 The Bamboo Bed William Eastlake 1969 American English
5010 Zone One Colson Whitehead 2011 American English
5012 The Lesser Bohemians Eimear McBride 2016 Irish English
5019 Hourglass Danilo Kiš 1972 Serbian Serbo-croatian
5081 Autobiography Of A Face Lucy Grealy 1994 American English
5108 The Ministry Of Pain Dubravka Ugrešić 2004 Croatian Croatian
5234 Intensity Dean R. Koontz 1995 American English
5259 Cockroaches Scholastique Mukasonga 2006 French French
5267 A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah 2007 Sierra Leonean English
5275 The Stone Sky N. K. Jemisin 2017 American English
5308 Ice-Candy-Man Bapsi Sidhwa 1988 Pakistani English
5313 A General Theory Of Oblivion José Eduardo Agualusa 2012 Angolan Portuguese
5330 The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Stephen Chbosky 1999 American English
5339 Days Without End Sebastian Barry 2016 Irish English
5386 In Memory Of Memory Maria Stepanova 2017 Russian Russian
5390 The Horse Whisperer Nicholas Evans 1995 British English
5406 A Constellation of Vital Phenomena Anthony Marra 2013 American English
5409 The Prince of Tides Pat Conroy 1986 American English
5420 What The Dead Know Laura Lippman 2007 American English
5425 At Night All Blood Is Black David Diop 2018 French French
5460 Giving up the Ghost Hilary Mantel 2003 British English
5476 Fado Alexandrino António Lobo Antunes 1983 Portuguese Portuguese
5484 Big Little Lies Liane Moriarty 2014 Australian English
5500 Schlachtbeschreibung Alexander Kluge 1978 German German
5594 The Sound Of Things Falling Juan Gabriel Vásquez 2011 Colombian Spanish
5595 The Lazarus Project Aleksandar Hemon 2008 Bosnian English
5622 Wave Sonali Deraniyagala 2013 Sri Lankan English
5631 Sabrina Nick Drnaso 2018 American English
5638 Was Geoff Ryman 1992 British English
5651 Reasons to Live Amy Hempel 1985 American English
5665 Le Polygone Etoile Kateb Yacine 1961 French French
5665 For Your Own Good Alice Miller 1980 Swiss French
5665 The Loser György Konrád 1980 Hungarian Hungarian
5727 I, The Divine Rabih Alameddine 2001 Lebanese English
5735 The Ghost Road Pat Barker 1995 British English
5737 Anil's Ghost Michael Ondaatje 2000 Canadian English
5748 The Insult Rupert Thomson 1996 British English
5805 Mysterious Skin Scott Heim 1995 American English
5816 Perma Red Debra Magpie Earling 2002 American English
5947 Black Box Amos Oz 1987 Israeli Hebrew
6002 Ceux De 14 Maurice Genevoix 1949 French French
6002 No One's Rose Paul Celan 1963 German German
6119 The Best We Could Do Thi Bui 2017 American English
6126 Three Day Road Joseph Boyden 2005 Canadian English
6133 Country Of My Skull Antjie Krog 1998 South African Afrikaans
6192 Know My Name Chanel Miller 2019 American English
6200 The Bridge Iain Banks 1986 Scottish English
6211 The Unconquered Country Geoff Ryman 1986 Canadian English
6215 Holocaust Charles Reznikoff 1975 American English
6239 The Chaneysville Incident David Bradley 1981 American English
6272 Owls Do Cry Janet Frame 1957 New Zealand English
6281 Sur La Scène Intérieure Marcel Cohen 2013 French French
6286 Visitation Jenny Erpenbeck 2008 German German
6301 Les Lieux De Marguerite Duras Marguerite Duras 1977 French French
6339 Nothing Holds Back The Night Delphine de Vigan 2011 French French
6370 The Body Stephen King 1982 American English
6374 Beartown Fredrik Backman 2016 Swedish Swedish
6448 The Half Brother Lars Saabye Christensen 2001 Norwegian Norwegian
6449 Orthokostá Thanassis Valtinos 1994 Greek Greek
6458 A Gate at the Stairs Lorrie Moore 2009 American English
6459 Never Did The Fire Diamela Eltit 2022 Chilean Spanish
6461 Things We Lost In The Fire Mariana Enríquez 2016 Argentinian Spanish
6475 Case Histories Kate Atkinson 2004 British English
6511 Incest Christine Angot 1999 French French
6535 Hunger Roxane Gay 2017 American English
6576 Indian Horse Richard Wagamese 2012 Canadian English
6603 Hillbilly Elegy J. D. Vance 2016 American English
6610 Hidden Valley Road Robert Kolker 2020 American English
6619 Zone Mathias Enard 2008 French French