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
10094 écrits 2003 2014 Angélica Liddell 2015 Spanish Spanish
10100 My Life As A Russian Novel Emmanuel Carrère 2007 French French
10136 A Lesson From Aloes Athol Fugard 1978 South African English
10170 March Geraldine Brooks 2005 American English
10177 Monkey Beach Eden Robinson 2000 Canadian English
10185 Winter Journal Paul Auster 2012 American English
10231 Que Cavalos São Aqueles Que Fazem Sombra No Mar? António Lobo Antunes 2009 Portuguese Portuguese
10236 The Apology Eve Ensler 2019 American English
10294 April Fool's Day Josip Novakovich 2004 Croatian English
10300 The Weight Of Blood Laura McHugh 2014 American English
10302 Requiem Shizuko Gō 1986 Japanese Japanese
10391 Mudwoman Joyce Carol Oates 2012 American English
10418 Matterhorn Karl Marlantes 2010 American English
10433 She's Come Undone Wally Lamb 1992 American English
10447 The Speed Of Light Javier Cercas 2005 Spanish Spanish
10450 Intimacies Katie Kitamura 2021 American English
10512 Postcolonial Love Poem Natalie Diaz 2020 American English
10548 A Book Of Scars William Shaw 2015 British English
10554 The Body Keeps The Score Bessel van der Kolk 2014 American English
10573 Ghost Jason Reynolds 2016 American English
10599 Autobiography Of A Family Photo Jacqueline Woodson 1995 American English
10722 Seminary Boy John Cornwell 2006 British English
10729 Big Swiss Jen Beagin 2023 American English
10781 Grown Ups Marian Keyes 2020 Irish English
10817 An Untamed State Roxane Gay 2014 American English
10820 Salt To The Sea Ruta Sepetys 2016 American English
10891 Lola In The Mirror Trent Dalton 2023 Australian English
10899 The Hooligan's Return Norman Manea 2003 Romanian Romanian
10914 The Shining Girls Lauren Beukes 2013 South African English
10921 Fools of Fortune William Trevor 1983 Irish English
10957 The Bird's Nest Shirley Jackson 1954 American English
10985 Stop Time Frank Conroy 1967 American English
10992 The Twilight Zone Nona Fernández 2016 Chilean Spanish
11001 In The Lake Of The Woods Tim O'Brien 1994 American English
11024 Four Novels Marguerite Duras 1985 French French
11041 The Shadow King Maaza Mengiste 2019 American English
11055 Coin Locker Babies Ryū Murakami 1980 Japanese Japanese
11057 Look Solmaz Sharif 2016 American English
11081 The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen 2017 American English
11108 The Healer's War Elizabeth Ann Scarborough 1988 American English
11108 Slow River Nicola Griffith 1995 British English
11212 A Sight for Sore Eyes Ruth Rendell 1999 British English
11227 The Real Lolita Sarah Weinman 2018 Unknown English
11234 Until Stones Become Lighter Than Water António Lobo Antunes 2017 Portuguese Portuguese
11252 In My Mother's House Kim Chernin 1983 American English
11328 White Oleander Fitch, Janet 1999 American English
11329 Molnfri Bombnatt Vibeke Olsson 1995 Swedish Swedish
11330 The French Art Of War Alexis Jenni 2011 French French
11353 The Girl In The Green Dress Jeni Haynes 2019 Unknown English
11353 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds In This Strange World Elif Shafak 2019 Turkish English
11386 The Devil In America Kai Ashante Wilson 2014 American English
11389 His Daughter Yoram Kaniuk 1988 Israeli Hebrew
11418 The Onion Field Joseph Wambaugh 1973 American English
11434 Philadelphia fire John Edgar Wideman 1990 American English
11501 Hibakusha Gaynor Sekimori 1986 Hibakusha Unknown
11578 Paradise Toni Morrison 1997 American English
11626 May We Be Forgiven A. M. Homes 2012 American English
11641 Silence Is A Sense Layla AlAmmar 2021 Unknown English
11660 The Furrows Namwali Serpell 2022 Unknown English
11660 Disappearing Earth Julia Phillips 2019 American English
11660 No Visible Bruises Rachel Louise Snyder 2019 American English
11660 The Association Of Small Bombs Karan Mahajan 2016 Indian English
11660 War And Turpentine Stefan Hertmans 2013 Belgian Dutch
11660 The Good Soldiers David Finkel 2009 American English
11660 Falling Through The Earth Danielle Trussoni 2006 American English
11794 The Bride Collector Ted Dekker 2010 American English
11660 The Witch Elm Tana French 2018 Irish English
11811 My Father's House Sylvia Fraser 1987 Canadian English
11844 Le Pavillon Des Enfants Fous Valérie Valère 1978 French French
11878 Sololand Hassan Blasim 2021 Iraqi Arabic
11894 Kinder Than Solitude Yiyun Li 2014 American English
11899 Sans Souci And Other Stories Dionne Brand 1988 Canadian English
11939 A Prince of Our Disorder John E. Mack 1976 American English
11939 Fortunate Son Lewis B. Puller 1991 American English
12008 The Echo Maker Richard Powers 2006 American English
12016 Infidel Pornsak Pichetshote 2018 Unknown English
12023 Cafe Scheherazade Arnold Zable 2001 Australian English
12048 Omega Minor Paul Verhaeghen 2004 Belgian Dutch
12048 Irakisk Kristus Hassan Blasim 2009 Unknown Arabic
12061 O Tamanho Do Mundo António Lobo Antunes 2022 Portuguese Portuguese
12083 Jasmine Bharati Mukherjee 1989 American English
12083 John Dollar Marianne Wiggins 1989 American English
12187 American Street Ibi Zoboi 2017 American English
12200 The Solitude Of Prime Numbers Paolo Giordano 2008 Italian Italian
12213 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman 2017 British English
12258 Beirut Fragments Jean Said Makdisi 1990 Lebanese English
12258 The Dust Roads Of Monferrato Rosetta Loy 1990 Italian Italian
12258 The Worry Girl Andrea Freud Loewenstein 1990 American English
12290 All Russians Love Birch Trees Olga Grjasnowa 2012 German German
12309 When I Was Five I Killed Myself Howard Buten 1981 American English
12324 Holocaust Testimonies Lawrence L. Langer 1991 American English
12392 Little Lazarus Michael Bible 2025 American English
12494 This Mournable Body Tsitsi Dangarembga 2018 Zimbabwean English
12513 Eve's Tattoo Emily Prager 1991 American English
12513 Family Album Claribel Alegría 1991 Nicaraguan Spanish
12513 The House Tibet Georgia Savage 1991 Australian English
12513 The Montreal Massacre Louise Malette, Marie Chalouh 1991 Canadian French
12513 Nampally Road Meena Alexander 1991 Indian English
12513 The Revolution Of Little Girls Blanche McCrary Boyd 1991 American English
12549 Minimosca Gustavo Faverón Patriau 2024 Peruvian Spanish; castilian
12565 Shattered Hanif Kureishi 2024 British English
12599 The Winter Warriors Olivier Norek 2024 French French
12738 Small Country Gaël Faye 2016 French French
12754 Maidenhair Mikhail Shishkin 2005 Russian Russian
12771 The Consequences Of Love Sulaiman Addonia 2008 British English
12792 Echine Philippe Djian 1982 French French
12793 The Red Star Anthoninthasan Jesuthasan Unknown Unknown
12819 Rage Steve Gerlach 2006 Australian English
12832 A Chorus Of Stones Susan Griffin 1992 American English
12832 Killing Color Charlotte W. Sherman 1992 American English
12832 Still Loved By The Sun Migael Scherer 1992 American English
12861 The Bleeding Season Greg F. Gifune 2003 American English
12973 The Death Of Us Abigail Dean 2025 Unknown Unknown
13072 The Dark Maestro Brendan Slocumb 2025 American English
13099 The Autobiography Of H. Lan Thao Lam Lana Lin 2025 American English
13141 A Historian In Gaza Jean-Pierre Filiu 2025 French Unknown
13217 One Hundred Demons Lynda Barry 2002 American English
13236 The Burning God R. F. Kuang 2020 American English
13256 Wonder When You’ll Miss Me Amanda Davis 2003 American English
13256 The Corpse Washer Sinan Antoon 2010 Iraqi Arabic