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
2665 The Lost World Arthur Conan Doyle 1912 British English
2678 The Vampyre John William Polidori 1819 British English
2796 Small Souls Louis Couperus 1901 Dutch Dutch
2888 John Keats Walter Jackson Bate 1963 American English
2911 Ruth Elizabeth Gaskell 1853 British English
2939 Best Ghost Stories Sheridan Le Fanu 1923 Irish English
2939 Dracula's Guest Bram Stoker 1914 British English
2963 Au Bonheur Des Dames Émile Zola 1883 French French
2987 Tipping The Velvet Sarah Waters 1998 British English
2994 Clayhanger Arnold Bennett 1910 British English
3000 Poor Folk Fyodor Dostoevsky 1846 Russian Russian
3016 The American Henry James 1877 American English
3022 The Memoirs Of Barry Lyndon William Makepeace Thackeray 1844 British English
3042 East Lynne Ellen Wood 1861 British English
3110 The Warden Anthony Trollope 1855 British English
3115 Affinity Sarah Waters 1999 British English
3126 Daisy Miller Henry James 1878 American English
3186 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
4234 Een Liefde Lodewijk van Deyssel 1887 Dutch Dutch
4270 Who Can Be Happy And Free In Russia? Nikolay Nekrasov 1870 Russian Russian
4310 Indiana George Sand 1832 French French
4310 The Westminster Alice Saki 1902 British English
4310 Vril Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1871 British English
4310 The Victorian Chaise Longue Marghanita Laski 1953 British English
4310 The Odd Women George Gissing 1893 British English
4421 Life Of John Sterling Thomas Carlyle 1851 British English
4421 The Voysey Inheritance Harley Granville Barker 1905 British English
4421 The Madras House Harley Granville Barker 1910 British English
4482 The Private Papers Of Henry Ryecroft George Gissing 1903 British English
4483 The Eustace Diamonds Anthony Trollope 1871 British English
4495 Soldiers Three Rudyard Kipling 1888 British English
4549 Mistress Of Mellyn Victoria Holt 1960 British English
4562 A House Of Pomegranates Oscar Wilde 1891 British English
4627 The Chimes Charles Dickens 1844 British English
4631 De Profundis Oscar Wilde 1905 British English
4633 Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti 2001 British English
4742 The Man With The Golden Touch Mór Jókai 1872 Hungarian Hungarian
4769 The Supernatural Tales Of Fitz James O'brien Fitz-James O'Brien 1908 British English
4785 The Princess Casamassima Henry James 1886 British English
4836 The Water Of The Wondrous Isles William Morris 1897 British English
4836 The Uninhabited House Mrs. Joseph H. Riddell 1875 British English
4836 Vice Versa F. Anstey 1882 British English
4836 The Brass Bottle F. Anstey 1900 British English
4836 A Haunted Man And The Ghost's Bargain Charles Dickens 1848 British English
4887 The Crimson Petal And The White Michel Faber 2002 British English
4900 The Gates Ajar Elizabeth Stuart Phelps 1868 American English
4900 The Poems Of Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1850 British English
4930 Dreaming Of You Lisa Kleypas 1994 American English
4957 A Fallen Idol F. Anstey 1886 British English
5046 For The Blood Is The Life F. Marion Crawford 1905 American English
5046 A Man Made Of Money Douglas Jerrold 1849 British English
5046 In Brief Authority F. Anstey 1896 British English
5158 Coleridge Richard Holmes 1989 British English
5190 Armadale Wilkie Collins 1866 British English
5190 The Lock And Key Library Julian Hawthorne 1909 American English
5190 Collected Ghost Stories Mrs. Joseph H. Riddell 1882 British English
5190 A Strange Story Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1862 British English
5315 Abu Telfan, Return from the Mountains of the Moon Wilhelm Karl Raabe 1867 German German
5319 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
5423 A Hungarian Nabob Mór Jókai 1899 Hungarian Hungarian
5592 Felix Holt, The Radical George Eliot 1866 French English
5690 Life Begins On Friday Ioana Pârvulescu 2009 Romanian Romanian
5763 Unnatural Causes P. D. James 1967 British English
5783 Giacinta Luigi Capuana 1879 Italian Italian
5993 The Children's Book A. S. Byatt 2009 British English
6080 John Keats Robert Gittings 1968 British English
6083 The Lamplighter Maria Susanna Cummins 1854 American English
6180 The Complete Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1828 British English
6309 Hatter's Castle A. J. Cronin 1931 British English
6381 The Mysterious Island Jules Verne 1874 French French
6382 The Condition Of The Working Class In England Friedrich Engels 1845 German German
6412 A Rich Full Death Michael Dibdin 1986 British English
6417 Florence Nightingale Cecil Woodham-Smith 1950 British English
6492 A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains Isabella L. Bird 1879 British English
6493 The Hidden Hand Or, Capitola The Madcap E. D. E. N. Southworth 1859 American English
6493 Life In The Iron Mills Rebecca Harding Davis 1861 American English
6493 Ruth Hall Fanny Fern 1854 American English
6493 The Story Of Avis Elizabeth Stuart Phelps 1877 American English
6717 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
7182 Joseph Vance William De Morgan 1906 British English
7198 Parallel Lives Phyllis Rose 1983 American English
7576 The Toilers Of The Sea Victor Hugo 1866 French French
7637 Soulless Gail Carriger 2009 American English
7677 The Soft Side Henry James 1900 British English
7731 Fraternity John Galsworthy 1909 British English
7986 The History Of Pendennis William Makepeace Thackeray 1849 British English
8097 The Invisible Woman Claire Tomalin 1990 British English
8107 Constance Ring Amalie Skram 1885 Norwegian Norwegian
8107 The Convert Elizabeth Robins 1907 British English
8107 The District Governor's Daughters Camilla Collett 1854 Norwegian Norwegian
8107 Pembroke Mary E. Wilkins Freeman 1894 American English
8157 Crocodile On The Sandbank Elizabeth Peters 1975 American English
8253 The Old Curiosity Shop Charles Dickens 1841 British English
8385 A Seditious Affair KJ Charles 2015 British English
8651 Victorian Psycho Virginia Feito 2025 Unknown English
8761 Mrs. Humphry Ward John Sutherland 1990 British English
8821 Victorian Fantasy Literature Karen Michaelson 1990 American Unknown
8943 Letters From Egypt Florence Nightingale 1987 British English
9092 Consuelo George Sand 1842 French French
9130 Westward Ho! Charles Kingsley 1855 British English
9377 Tales For Christmas Eve Rhoda Broughton 1873 British English
9377 Monos And Daimonos Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1830 British English
9377 After Dark Wilkie Collins 1856 British English
9377 The Night Side Of Nature Catherine Crowe 1848 British English
9377 The Notting Hill Mystery Charles Felix 1862 British English
9377 Varney, The Vampire Thomas Prest 1845 British English
9377 Wagner, The Wehr Wolf George William MacArthur Reynolds 1847 British English
9377 Wessex Tales Thomas Hardy 1888 British English
9377 The Lesson Of The Master And Other Stories Henry James 1892 American English
9377 Stories Of The Supernatural Henry James 1908 American English
9377 Terminations And Other Stories Henry James 1895 American English
9377 The Purcell Papers Sheridan Le Fanu 1838 Irish English