The Greatest Books of All Time Written by Women

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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
13 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen 1813 British English
15 Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë 1847 British English
16 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 1960 American English
27 To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf 1927 British English
28 Middlemarch George Eliot 1871 British English
29 Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë 1847 British English
32 Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf 1925 British English
39 Frankenstein Mary Shelley 1818 British English
49 Beloved Toni Morrison 1987 American English
58 Gone With the Wind Margaret Mitchell 1936 American English
59 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier 1938 British English
61 The Golden Notebook Doris May Lessing 1962 British English
68 Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston 1937 American English
83 Emma Jane Austen 1815 British English
92 The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton 1920 American English
93 Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 American English
95 Orlando Virginia Woolf 1928 British English
103 The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath 1963 American English
113 The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank 1947 Dutch Dutch
118 The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers 1940 American English
123 Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar 1951 French French
130 The Tale of Genji Murasaki Shikibu 1001 Japanese Classical japanese
132 The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood 1985 Canadian English
140 The Second Sex Simone de Beauvoir 1949 French French
143 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
156 Poems of Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson 1890 American English
157 The Color Purple Alice Walker 1982 American English
158 Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys 1966 British English
160 My Antonia Willa Cather 1918 American English
162 Silent Spring Rachel Carson 1962 American English
169 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark 1961 British, Scottish English
173 A Room of One's Own Virginia Woolf 1929 British English
184 Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe 1852 American English
186 Bonjour Tristesse Francoise Sagan 1954 French French
191 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie 1939 British English
192 Persuasion Jane Austen 1817 British English
208 A Good Man Is Hard to Find Flannery O'Connor 1953 American English
215 The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson 1959 American English
217 The House of Mirth Edith Wharton 1905 American English
221 White Teeth Zadie Smith 2000 British English
236 Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone J. K. Rowling 1997 British English
244 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith 1943 American English
250 Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery 1908 Canadian English
251 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
252 The Waves Virginia Woolf 1931 British English
260 Song of Solomon Toni Morrison 1977 American English
267 Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren 1945 Swedish Swedish
269 Nightwood Djuna Barnes 1936 American English
271 The Awakening Kate Chopin 1899 American English
278 A Wizard Of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin 1968 American English
279 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
281 The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck 1931 American English
284 The Princess of Cleves Madame de La Fayette 1678 French French
291 The House of the Spirits Isabel Allende 1982 Chilean Spanish
293 A Wrinkle In Time Madeleine L'Engle 1962 American English
296 The Lover Marguerite Duras 1984 French French
299 Kristin Lavransdatter Sigrid Undset 1920 Norwegian Norwegian
308 The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison 1970 American English
329 History Elsa Morante 1974 Italian Italian
331 Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson 1980 American English
350 The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor Flannery O'Connor 1971 American English
359 The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy 1997 Indian English
362 Wise Blood Flannery O'Connor 1952 American English
363 The Left Hand Of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin 1969 American English
370 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
391 Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather 1927 American English
395 The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein 1933 American English
397 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel 2009 British English
409 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
414 The Mill on the Floss George Eliot 1860 British English
416 Out of Africa Isak Dinesen 1937 Danish Danish
419 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey 1951 British English
421 A Visit From The Goon Squad Jennifer Egan 2010 American English
423 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie 1934 British English
425 Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen 1811 British English
433 Play It As It Lays Joan Didion 1970 American English
434 The Fountainhead Ayn Rand 1943 American English
437 Passing Nella Larsen 1929 American English
439 North and South Elizabeth Gaskell 1855 British English
440 The Origins of Totalitarianism Hannah Arendt 1951 German English
443 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
454 The Sea, The Sea Iris Murdoch 1978 British English
461 Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand 1957 American English
468 Daniel Deronda George Eliot 1876 British English
472 The Man Who Loved Children Christina Stead 1940 Australian English
475 Gilead Marilynne Robinson 2004 American English
480 Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons 1932 British English
485 Adam Bede George Eliot 1859 British English
488 The Shipping News Annie Proulx 1993 Canadian English
490 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 1911 American English
497 Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L. Sayers 1933 British English
500 Everything That Rises Must Converge Flannery O'Connor 1965 American English
508 Black Beauty Anna Sewell 1877 British English
513 Kindred Octavia E. Butler 1979 American English
520 Mansfield Park Jane Austen 1814 British English
521 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou 1969 American English
525 Family Sayings Natalia Ginzburg 1963 Italian Italian
532 The Passion According to G.H. Clarice Lispector 1964 Brazilian Portuguese
545 The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie Agota Kristof 1986 Hungarian French
553 The Dispossessed Ursula K. Le Guin 1974 American English
560 Sula Toni Morrison 1973 American English
568 The Mandarins Simone de Beauvoir 1954 French French
569 The Death of the Heart Elizabeth Bowen 1938 British, Irish English
573 Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret Judy Blume 1970 American English
575 I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith 1948 British English
576 Complete Poems Elizabeth Bishop 1969 American English
580 Black Lamb and Grey Falcon Rebecca West 1941 British English
590 Northanger Abbey Jane Austen 1817 British English
597 The Years Annie Ernaux 2008 French French
605 Claudine Colette 1900 French French
610 Requiem Anna Akhmatova 1963 Russian Russian
625 The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
628 Nights At The Circus Angela Carter 1984 British English
636 Goodnight Moon Margaret Wise Brown 1947 American English
641 Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding 1996 British English
642 Testament Of Youth Vera Brittain 1933 British English
643 Silas Marner George Eliot 1861 British English
647 Lolly Willowes Sylvia Townsend Warner 1926 British English
649 Villette Charlotte Brontë 1853 British English
656 The Time Of The Doves Merce Rodoreda 1962 Spanish Catalan