The Guardian's 100 Best Novels of All Time

The Guardian’s celebrated countdown of the 100 greatest novels ever written, spanning four centuries and a dozen national traditions.

100 books · 77 in the collection · Original list

  1. MiddlemarchGeorge Eliot · 1831
  2. BelovedToni Morrison · 1987
  3. UlyssesJames Joyce · 1920
  4. To the LighthouseVirginia Woolf · 1925
  5. In Search of Lost TimeMarcel Proust · 1913
  6. Anna KareninaLeo Tolstoy · 1877
  7. War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy · 1864
  8. Jane EyreCharlotte Brontë · 1846
  9. Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen · 1813
  10. Madame BovaryGustave Flaubert · 1856
  11. The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald · 1925
  12. Bleak HouseCharles Dickens · 1852
  13. EmmaJane Austen · 1815
  14. Mrs DallowayVirginia Woolf · 1923
  15. Moby-DickHerman Melville · 1851
  16. Nineteen Eighty-FourGeorge Orwell · 1948
  17. One Hundred Years of SolitudeGabriel García Márquez · 1967
  18. PersuasionJane Austen · 1817
  19. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, GentlemanLaurence Sterne · 1759
  20. Wuthering HeightsEmily Brontë · 1846
  21. The Portrait of a LadyHenry James · 1881
  22. Things Fall ApartChinua Achebe · 1958
  23. Midnight's ChildrenSalman Rushdie · 1981
  24. The Remains of the DayKazuo Ishiguro · 1989
  25. LolitaVladimir Nabokov · 1955
  26. Don QuixoteMiguel de Cervantes Saavedra · 1600
  27. The TrialFranz Kafka · 1918
  28. The Brothers KaramazovFyodor Dostoevsky · 1876
  29. Pale FireVladimir Nabokov · 1945
  30. FrankensteinMary Wollstonecraft Shelley · 1818
  31. The Prime of Miss Jean BrodieMuriel Spark · not in the collection
  32. The God of Small ThingsArundhati Roy · not in the collection
  33. David CopperfieldCharles Dickens · 1849
  34. Wolf HallHilary Mantel · 2009
  35. Great ExpectationsCharles Dickens · 1860
  36. The Handmaid's TaleMargaret Atwood · 1985
  37. Invisible ManRalph Ellison · 1952
  38. The Age of InnocenceEdith Wharton · 1920
  39. Their Eyes Were Watching GodZora Neale Hurston · 1937
  40. Song of SolomonToni Morrison · 1950
  41. Heart of DarknessJoseph Conrad · 1899
  42. The Magic MountainThomas Mann · 1924
  43. HousekeepingMarilynne Robinson · not in the collection
  44. Giovanni's RoomJames Baldwin · not in the collection
  45. The Golden NotebookDoris Lessing · 1962
  46. The LeopardGiuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa · 1958
  47. Vanity FairWilliam Makepeace Thackeray · 1848
  48. The MetamorphosisFranz Kafka · 1915
  49. A Fine BalanceRohinton Mistry · not in the collection
  50. Wide Sargasso SeaJean Rhys · 1966
  51. My Brilliant FriendElena Ferrante · not in the collection
  52. The Golden BowlHenry James · 1904
  53. The Transit of VenusShirley Hazzard · not in the collection
  54. OrlandoVirginia Woolf · 1919
  55. The WavesVirginia Woolf · 1931
  56. Mansfield ParkJane Austen · 1814
  57. The Sound and the FuryWilliam Faulkner · 1929
  58. DisgraceJ.M. Coetzee · 1999
  59. Never Let Me GoKazuo Ishiguro · 2005
  60. Howards EndE. M. Forster · 1910
  61. The Rings of SaturnW.G. Sebald · not in the collection
  62. Half of a Yellow SunChimamanda Ngozi Adichie · not in the collection
  63. White TeethZadie Smith · not in the collection
  64. The Good SoldierFord Madox Ford · 1915
  65. The Color PurpleAlice Walker · not in the collection
  66. The Master and MargaritaMikhail Bulgakov · 1918
  67. The Man Without QualitiesRobert Musil · 1979
  68. Blood MeridianCormac McCarthy · 1985
  69. Crime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoevsky · 1866
  70. Jude the ObscureThomas Hardy · 1895
  71. KindredOctavia Butler · not in the collection
  72. Our Mutual FriendCharles Dickens · 1864
  73. AusterlitzW.G. Sebald · not in the collection
  74. Nervous ConditionsTsitsi Dangarembga · not in the collection
  75. The Bluest EyeToni Morrison · 1970
  76. DraculaBram Stoker · 1897
  77. The RainbowD.H. Lawrence · 1915
  78. A House for Mr BiswasV.S. Naipaul · not in the collection
  79. Go Tell It on the MountainJames Baldwin · not in the collection
  80. RebeccaDaphne du Maurier · 1938
  81. BuddenbrooksThomas Mann · 1901
  82. The End of the AffairGraham Greene · 1951
  83. A Farewell to ArmsErnest Hemingway · 1929
  84. The Talented Mr RipleyPatricia Highsmith · 1955
  85. The VegetarianHan Kang · 2000
  86. The Turn of the ScrewHenry James · 1898
  87. The Line of BeautyAlan Hollinghurst · not in the collection
  88. RagtimeE.L. Doctorow · not in the collection
  89. The Left Hand of DarknessUrsula K. Le Guin · not in the collection
  90. Jacob's RoomVirginia Woolf · 1922
  91. Life and FateVasily Grossman · not in the collection
  92. Sentimental EducationGustave Flaubert · 1869
  93. Invisible CitiesItalo Calvino · 2010
  94. The Known WorldEdward P. Jones · not in the collection
  95. The Return of the NativeThomas Hardy · 1878
  96. Pedro PáramoJuan Rulfo · not in the collection
  97. Catch-22Joseph Heller · 1961
  98. The RoadCormac McCarthy · 2006
  99. The Go-BetweenL.P. Hartley · not in the collection
  100. My ÁntoniaWilla Cather · 1918