The Greatest Victorian 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
2664 The Lost World Arthur Conan Doyle 1912 British English
2677 The Vampyre John William Polidori 1819 British English
2794 Small Souls Louis Couperus 1901 Dutch Dutch
2886 John Keats Walter Jackson Bate 1963 American English
2909 Ruth Elizabeth Gaskell 1853 British English
2937 Best Ghost Stories Sheridan Le Fanu 1923 Irish English
2937 Dracula's Guest Bram Stoker 1914 British English
2961 Au Bonheur Des Dames Émile Zola 1883 French French
2985 Tipping The Velvet Sarah Waters 1998 British English
2992 Clayhanger Arnold Bennett 1910 British English
2998 Poor Folk Fyodor Dostoevsky 1846 Russian Russian
3013 The American Henry James 1877 American English
3019 The Memoirs Of Barry Lyndon William Makepeace Thackeray 1844 British English
3039 East Lynne Ellen Wood 1861 British English
3109 The Warden Anthony Trollope 1855 British English
3114 Affinity Sarah Waters 1999 British English
3125 Daisy Miller Henry James 1878 American English
3185 Eothen Alexander William Kinglake 1844 British English
3324 The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby Charles Kingsley 1863 British English
3403 Wobble To Death Peter Lovesey 1970 British English
3488 The Great Victorian Collection Brian Moore 1975 Canadian English
3638 The Second Wife E. Marlitt 1899 German German
3638 The Seven Lamps Of Architecture John Ruskin 1849 British English
3934 The Tailor Of Gloucester Beatrix Potter 1903 British English
4233 Een Liefde Lodewijk van Deyssel 1887 Dutch Dutch
4269 Who Can Be Happy And Free In Russia? Nikolay Nekrasov 1870 Russian Russian
4309 Indiana George Sand 1832 French French
4309 The Westminster Alice Saki 1902 British English
4309 Vril Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1871 British English
4309 The Victorian Chaise Longue Marghanita Laski 1953 British English
4309 The Odd Women George Gissing 1893 British English
4420 Life Of John Sterling Thomas Carlyle 1851 British English
4420 The Voysey Inheritance Harley Granville Barker 1905 British English
4420 The Madras House Harley Granville Barker 1910 British English
4481 The Private Papers Of Henry Ryecroft George Gissing 1903 British English
4482 The Eustace Diamonds Anthony Trollope 1871 British English
4494 Soldiers Three Rudyard Kipling 1888 British English
4548 Mistress Of Mellyn Victoria Holt 1960 British English
4561 A House Of Pomegranates Oscar Wilde 1891 British English
4626 The Chimes Charles Dickens 1844 British English
4630 De Profundis Oscar Wilde 1905 British English
4632 Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti 2001 British English
4741 The Man With The Golden Touch Mór Jókai 1872 Hungarian Hungarian
4768 The Supernatural Tales Of Fitz James O'brien Fitz-James O'Brien 1908 British English
4784 The Princess Casamassima Henry James 1886 British English
4835 The Water Of The Wondrous Isles William Morris 1897 British English
4835 The Uninhabited House Mrs. Joseph H. Riddell 1875 British English
4835 Vice Versa F. Anstey 1882 British English
4835 The Brass Bottle F. Anstey 1900 British English
4835 A Haunted Man And The Ghost's Bargain Charles Dickens 1848 British English
4886 The Crimson Petal And The White Michel Faber 2002 British English
4899 The Gates Ajar Elizabeth Stuart Phelps 1868 American English
4899 The Poems Of Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1850 British English
4928 Dreaming Of You Lisa Kleypas 1994 American English
4955 A Fallen Idol F. Anstey 1886 British English
5043 For The Blood Is The Life F. Marion Crawford 1905 American English
5043 A Man Made Of Money Douglas Jerrold 1849 British English
5043 In Brief Authority F. Anstey 1896 British English
5156 Coleridge Richard Holmes 1989 British English
5188 Armadale Wilkie Collins 1866 British English
5188 The Lock And Key Library Julian Hawthorne 1909 American English
5188 Collected Ghost Stories Mrs. Joseph H. Riddell 1882 British English
5188 A Strange Story Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1862 British English
5314 Abu Telfan, Return from the Mountains of the Moon Wilhelm Karl Raabe 1867 German German
5318 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
5421 A Hungarian Nabob Mór Jókai 1899 Hungarian Hungarian
5589 Felix Holt, The Radical George Eliot 1866 French English
5687 Life Begins On Friday Ioana Pârvulescu 2009 Romanian Romanian
5760 Unnatural Causes P. D. James 1967 British English
5780 Giacinta Luigi Capuana 1879 Italian Italian
5990 The Children's Book A. S. Byatt 2009 British English
6077 John Keats Robert Gittings 1968 British English
6080 The Lamplighter Maria Susanna Cummins 1854 American English
6177 The Complete Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1828 British English
6306 Hatter's Castle A. J. Cronin 1931 British English
6378 The Mysterious Island Jules Verne 1874 French French
6379 The Condition Of The Working Class In England Friedrich Engels 1845 German German
6409 A Rich Full Death Michael Dibdin 1986 British English
6414 Florence Nightingale Cecil Woodham-Smith 1950 British English
6490 A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains Isabella L. Bird 1879 British English
6491 The Hidden Hand Or, Capitola The Madcap E. D. E. N. Southworth 1859 American English
6491 Life In The Iron Mills Rebecca Harding Davis 1861 American English
6491 Ruth Hall Fanny Fern 1854 American English
6491 The Story Of Avis Elizabeth Stuart Phelps 1877 American English
6716 A Man Lay Dead Ngaio Marsh 1934 New Zealander English
6815 The Little Minister J. M. Barrie 1891 Scottish English
6884 Victorian Fantasy Stephen Prickett 1979 British English
7181 Joseph Vance William De Morgan 1906 British English
7197 Parallel Lives Phyllis Rose 1983 American English
7575 The Toilers Of The Sea Victor Hugo 1866 French French
7636 Soulless Gail Carriger 2009 American English
7676 The Soft Side Henry James 1900 British English
7730 Fraternity John Galsworthy 1909 British English
7985 The History Of Pendennis William Makepeace Thackeray 1849 British English
8095 The Invisible Woman Claire Tomalin 1990 British English
8105 Constance Ring Amalie Skram 1885 Norwegian Norwegian
8105 The Convert Elizabeth Robins 1907 British English
8105 The District Governor's Daughters Camilla Collett 1854 Norwegian Norwegian
8105 Pembroke Mary E. Wilkins Freeman 1894 American English
8155 Crocodile On The Sandbank Elizabeth Peters 1975 American English
8251 The Old Curiosity Shop Charles Dickens 1841 British English
8383 A Seditious Affair KJ Charles 2015 British English
8649 Victorian Psycho Virginia Feito 2025 Unknown English
8758 Mrs. Humphry Ward John Sutherland 1990 British English
8818 Victorian Fantasy Literature Karen Michaelson 1990 American Unknown
8941 Letters From Egypt Florence Nightingale 1987 British English
9090 Consuelo George Sand 1842 French French
9128 Westward Ho! Charles Kingsley 1855 British English
9375 Tales For Christmas Eve Rhoda Broughton 1873 British English
9375 Monos And Daimonos Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1830 British English
9375 After Dark Wilkie Collins 1856 British English
9375 The Night Side Of Nature Catherine Crowe 1848 British English
9375 The Notting Hill Mystery Charles Felix 1862 British English
9375 Varney, The Vampire Thomas Prest 1845 British English
9375 Wagner, The Wehr Wolf George William MacArthur Reynolds 1847 British English
9375 Wessex Tales Thomas Hardy 1888 British English
9375 The Lesson Of The Master And Other Stories Henry James 1892 American English
9375 Stories Of The Supernatural Henry James 1908 American English
9375 Terminations And Other Stories Henry James 1895 American English
9375 The Purcell Papers Sheridan Le Fanu 1838 Irish English