1. the pilgrim’s progress by john bunyan (1678)
The story of a man in search of the truth told with the simple clarity and beauty of Bunyan’s prose make this the definitive English classic.
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2. robinson crusoe by daniel defoe (1719)
by the end of the 19th century, no book in the history of English literature had enjoyed more editions, spin-offs and translations. Crusoe’s world-famous novel is a complex literary confection, and it’s irresistible.
3. gulliver’s travels by jonathan swift (1726)
A satirical masterpiece that has never been out of print, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels ranks third on our list of the best novels written in English
4. Clarissa by Samuel Richardson (1748)
Clarissa is a tragic heroine, pressured by her unscrupulous nouveau riche family to marry a rich man she detests, in the book that Samuel Johnson described as “the first book in the world for showing insight into the heart. human. ”
5. tom jones by henry fielding (1749)
tom jones is a classic English novel that captures the spirit of its times and whose famous characters have come to represent Augustan society in all its loquacious, turbulent and comic variety.
6. the life and opinions of tristram shandy, knight by laurence sterne (1759)
Laurence Sterne’s vivid novel caused delight and dismay when it first appeared and has lost little of its original bite.
7. jane austen’s emma (1816)
Emma by Jane Austen is her masterpiece, blending the brilliance of her early books with a deep sensibility.
8. frankenstein by mary shelley (1818)
Mary Shelley’s debut novel has been hailed as a masterpiece of horror and the macabre.
9. Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock (1818)
The great pleasure of Nightmare Abbey, which was inspired by Thomas Love Peacock’s friendship with Shelley, lies in the author’s delight in poking fun at the Romantic movement.
10. Arthur Gordon Pym’s Narrative of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (1838)
Edgar Allan Poe’s only novel, a classic adventure story with supernatural elements, has fascinated and influenced generations of writers.
11. benjamin disraeli sibyl (1845)
The future prime minister showed flashes of brilliance that equaled the greatest Victorian novelists.
12. jane eyre by charlotte brontë (1847)
charlotte brontë’s gothic and erotic masterpiece became a sensation in victorian england. her breakthrough was her intimate dialogue with the reader.
13. wuthering heights by emily brontë (1847)
emily brontë’s windswept masterpiece is notable not only for its wild beauty, but also for its daring reinvention of the novel’s very form.
14. vanity fair by william thackeray (1848)
William Thackeray’s masterpiece, set in Regency England, is a bravura performance by a writer at the peak of his career.
15. david copperfield by charles dickens (1850)
david copperfield marked the point at which dickens became the great artist and also laid the groundwork for his later darker masterpieces.
16. the scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthorne (1850)
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s amazing book is full of intense symbolism and is as haunting as anything written by Edgar Allan Poe.
17. herman melville’s moby dick (1851)
Melville’s wise, funny, and gripping epic continues to cast a long shadow over American literature.
18. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865)
Lewis Carroll’s brilliant nonsense tale is one of the most influential and beloved in the English canon.
19. the moonstone by wilkie collins (1868)
Wilkie Collins’s masterpiece, hailed by many as the best English crime novel, is a brilliant combination of the sensational and the realistic.
20. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868-9)
Louisa May Alcott’s highly original story, aimed at a market of young women, has iconic status in America and has never been out of print.
21. middle march by george eliot (1871-2)
This cathedral of words stands today as perhaps the greatest of the great Victorian fictions.
22. the way we live now by anthony trolope (1875)
Inspired by the author’s fury at England’s corrupt state and shunned by critics at the time, The Way We Live Now is recognized as Trolope’s masterpiece.
23. the adventures of huckleberry finn by mark twain (1884/5)
Mark Twain’s story of a rebellious boy and a runaway slave seeking liberation in the waters of the Mississippi remains a defining classic of American literature.
24. kidnapped by robert louis stevenson (1886)
A thrilling adventure story, a gripping story, and a riveting Scottish character study, Kidnapped has lost none of its power.
25. three men in a boat by jerome k jerome (1889)
jerome k jerome’s accidental classic about fooling around in the thames is still a comic gem.
26. the sign of the four by arthur conan doyle (1890)
In the second installment of Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle’s brilliant detective, and his swaggering sidekick Watson, come to life.
27. the portrait of dorian gray by oscar wilde (1891)
Wilde’s brilliantly allusive morality tale of youth, beauty and corruption was met with howls of protest upon publication.
28. new street grub by george gissing (1891)
george gissing’s portrayal of the hard facts of a literary life remains as relevant today as it was in the late 19th century.
29. jude the dark by thomas hardy (1895)
hardy exposed his deepest feelings in this dark and angry novel and, hurt by the hostile response, never wrote another.
30. Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage (1895)
Stephen Crane’s tale of a young man’s rise to manhood through soldiery is a blueprint for the great American war novel.
31. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897)
Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale was very much for its time, but it still resonates more than a century later.
32. heart of darkness by joseph conrad (1899)
joseph conrad’s masterpiece about a life-changing journey in search of mr. Kurtz has the simplicity of a great myth.
33. sister carrie by theodore dreiser (1900)
Theodore Dreiser wasn’t a stylist, but his unflinching novel about a country girl’s American dream packs a punch.
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34. kim by rudyard kipling (1901)
In Kipling’s classic boy’s spy story, an orphan in British India must choose between East and West.
35. the call of the wild by jack london (1903)
jack london’s vivid adventures of a pet dog soaring back into the wild reveal extraordinary style and consummate storytelling.
36. the golden bowl of henry james (1904)
American literature contains nothing like the incredible, labyrinthine and claustrophobic novel of Henry James.
37. hadrian the seventh by frederick rolfe (1904)
This entertaining if contrived tale of a writer and priest who becomes pope shines a vivid light on its eccentric author, described by dh lawrence as a “demon-man”.
38. the wind in the willows by kenneth grahame (1908)
the evergreen tale of the riverside and a powerful contribution to the mythology of Edwardian England.
39. the story of mr. polly by hg wells (1910)
The choice is excellent, but Wells’s tongue-in-cheek portrayal of a man much like himself is the novel that stands out.
40. zuleika dobson by max beerbohm (1911)
The passage of time has lent a dark power to beerbohm’s ostensibly light and witty Edwardian satire.
41. the good soldier by ford madox ford (1915)
Ford’s masterpiece is a scathing study of the moral dissolution behind the facade of an English gentleman, and its stylistic influence lives on to this day.
42. the thirty-nine steps of john buchan (1915)
John Buchan’s espionage thriller, with its sparse, contemporary prose, is hard to put down.
43. the rainbow by dh lawrence (1915)
the rainbow is perhaps dh lawrence’s best work, showing him as the radical, protean, thoroughly modern writer he was.
44. of human bondage by w somerset maugham (1915)
Somerset Maugham’s semi-autobiographical novel showcases the author’s savage honesty and gift for storytelling at its finest.
45. the age of innocence by edith wharton (1920)
The story of a ruined New York marriage stands as a fierce indictment of a society cut off from culture.
46. Ulysses by James Joyce (1922)
This portrait of a day in the life of three Dubliners remains a commanding work, surpassing even Shakespeare in its play on words.
47. babbitt by sinclair lewis (1922)
What it lacks in structure and cunning, this gripping take on 1920s America makes up for in vivid characterization and satire.
48. A Passage to India by Em Forster (1924)
em forster’s most successful work is eerily prescient on the theme of empire.
49. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos (1925)
It may be a guilty pleasure, but it’s impossible to ignore the enduring influence of a story that helped define the Jazz Age.
50. Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway (1925)
woolf’s great novel turns a day of preparation for a party into the canvas of themes such as lost love, life choices and mental illness.
51. the great gatsby by f scott fitzgerald (1925)
fitzgerald’s jazz age masterpiece has become a tantalizing metaphor for the eternal mystery of art.
52. Willows by Sylvia Townsend Warner (1926)
A young woman escapes convention by becoming a witch in this original satire on post-World War I England.
53. the sun also rises by ernest hemingway (1926)
Hemingway’s first and best novel takes a trip to 1920s Spain to explore courage, cowardice, and manly authenticity.
54. Dashiell Hammett’s Maltese Falcon (1929)
dashiell hammett’s crime thriller and its inveterate hero sam spade influenced everyone from chandler to le carré.
55. as she lay dying by william faulkner (1930)
the influence of william faulkner’s immersive story of gritty rural mississippi life can be felt to this day.
56. aldous huxley’s brave new world (1932)
Aldous Huxley’s vision of a future human race controlled by global capitalism is as prescient as Orwell’s most famous dystopia.
57. cold comfort farm by stella gibbons (1932)
The book for which Gibbons is best remembered was a satire of late Victorian pastoral fiction, but it influenced many generations to come.
58. nineteen nineteen by john dos passos (1932)
The middle volume of John Dos Passos’s USA trilogy is revolutionary in its intent, techniques, and lasting impact.
59. tropic of cancer by henry miller (1934)
The American novelist’s debut reveled in a Parisian underworld of seedy sex and changed the course of the novel, though not without a fight with the censors.
60. evelyn waugh scoop (1938)
evelyn waugh’s fleet street satire remains sharp, relevant and memorable.
61. murphy by samuel beckett (1938)
Samuel Beckett’s first published novel is a masterpiece of the absurd, a showcase for his singular comedic voice.
62. raymond chandler’s big dream (1939)
Raymond Chandler’s gritty debut brings to life the seedy underworld and Philip Marlowe, the archetypal fictional detective.
63. Henry Green’s Party (1939)
Set on the eve of war, this abandoned modernist masterpiece centers on a group of brilliant young revelers delayed by a fog.
64. In Two Birds Swimming by Flann O’Brien (1939)
Labyrinthine and multi-layered, flann o’brien’s humorous debut is both a reflection and exemplar of the Irish novel.
65. the grapes of wrath by john steinbeck (1939)
One of the greatest of the great American novels, this study of a family torn apart by poverty and despair in the Great Depression sent shock waves through American society.
66. joy in the morning by pg wodehouse (1946)
pg wodehouse’s elegiac jeeves novel, written during his disastrous years in wartime germany, remains his masterpiece.
67. All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren (1946)
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A gripping story of personal and political corruption, set in the 1930s American South.
68. Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry (1947)
Malcolm Lowry’s masterpiece about the last hours of an alcoholic former diplomat in Mexico is set to the rhythm of the coming conflict.
69. the heat of the day by elizabeth bowen (1948)
elizabeth bowen’s 1948 novel perfectly captures the atmosphere of london during the blitz while also providing a brilliant insight into the human heart.
70. nineteen eighty-four by george orwell (1949)
George Orwell’s dystopian classic cost its author dearly, but it is arguably the best-known English-language novel of the 20th century.
71. the end of the graham greene affair (1951)
Graham Greene’s moving story of adultery and its aftermath ties together several vital threads in his work.
72. the catcher in the rye by jd salinger (1951)
JD Salinger’s study of teenage rebellion remains one of the most controversial and beloved American novels of the 20th century.
73. the adventures of augie march de saul bellow (1953)
In the long quest to identify the great American novel, Saul Bellow’s third picaresque book often hits the mark.
74. lord of the flies by william golding (1954)
discarded at first as “garbage & boring”, golding’s brilliantly observed dystopian desert island tale has since become a classic.
75. lolita by vladimir nabokov (1955)
Nabokov’s tragicomic tour de force crosses the boundaries of good taste with glee.
76. on the way to jack kerouac (1957)
The creative story of Kerouac’s Beat Generation classic, fueled on pea soup and benzedrine, has become as famous as the novel itself.
77. voss by patrick white (1957)
A love story set around the disappearance of an explorer in the outback, Voss paved the way for a generation of Australian writers to ignore the colonial past.
78. to kill a mockingbird by harper lee (1960)
Her second novel finally arrived this summer, but Harper Lee’s first did enough on its own to ensure her lasting fame and remains a truly popular classic.
79. Miss Jean Brodie’s Flower by Muriel Spark (1960)
Short and bittersweet, Muriel Spark’s tale of the fall of a Scottish schoolteacher is a masterpiece of narrative fiction.
80. catch-22 by joseph heller (1961)
This scathing anti-war novel was slow to spark the public imagination, but it’s rightly seen as a groundbreaking critique of military madness.
81. doris lessing’s golden notebook (1962)
Hailed as one of the key texts of the 1960s women’s movement, this study of a divorced single mother’s search for personal and political identity remains challenging and ambitious.
82. a clockwork orange by anthony burgess (1962)
Anthony Burgess’s dystopian classic continues to surprise and provoke, refusing to be outshone by Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant film adaptation.
83. a single man by christopher isherwood (1964)
Christopher Isherwood’s story of a gay Englishman struggling with grief in Los Angeles is a work of compressed brilliance.
84. in cold blood by truman capote (1966)
Truman Capote’s nonfiction novel, a true story of bloody murder in rural Kansas, opens a window into the dark underbelly of post-war America.
85. the bell jar by sylvia plath (1966)
Sylvia Plath’s painfully graphic roman à clef, in which a woman struggles with her identity in the face of social pressure, is a key text of Anglo-American feminism.
86. portnoy’s complaint by philip roth (1969)
This wickedly funny novel about a young Jewish American’s obsession with masturbation caused outrage on publication, but remains his most arresting work.
87. mrs palfrey at elizabeth taylor’s claremont (1971)
Elizabeth Taylor’s exquisitely drawn character study of eccentricity in old age is a sharp and witty portrayal of elegant post-war English life in the face of the changes that took place in the 1960s.
88. rabbit redux by john updike (1971)
Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, updike’s adorably mediocre alter ego, is one of America’s great literary protagonists, along with Huck Finn and Jay Gatsby.
89. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (1977)
The novel with which the Nobel Prize-winning author established her name is a kaleidoscopic evocation of the black experience in the 20th century.
90. a bend in the river vs naipaul (1979)
vs naipaul’s hellish vision of an African nation’s path to independence saw him accused of racism, but it remains his masterpiece.
91. salman rushdie’s midnight children (1981)
The personal and the historical merge in Salman Rushdie’s dazzling groundbreaking English Indian novel about a young man born at the very moment of Indian independence.
92. housekeeping by marilynne robinson (1981)
Marilynne Robinson’s story of orphaned sisters and their eccentric aunt in a remote Idaho town is admired by everyone from Barack Obama to Bret Easton Ellis.
93. money: a suicide note by martin amis (1984)
Martin Amis’ era-defining ode to excess unleashed one of literature’s greatest modern monsters in the self-destructive anti-hero John Self.
94. an artist from kazuo ishiguro’s floating world (1986)
Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel about a retired artist in post-war Japan, reflecting on his career during the country’s dark years, is an unreliable tour de force of storytelling.
95. Penelope Fitzgerald’s Dawn of Spring (1988)
The Fitzgerald Story, set in Russia just before the Bolshevik Revolution, is his masterpiece: a brilliant miniature whose peculiar magic almost defies analysis.
96. anne tyler breathing lessons (1988)
Anne Tyler’s portrayal of a middle-aged American married couple perfectly showcases her narrative clarity, comedic timing, and ear for American speech.
97. between women by john mcgahern (1990)
This modern Irish masterpiece is as much a study in the failings of Irish patriarchy as it is an elegy for a lost world.
98. underworld of don delillo (1997)
A writer of “terrifying insight,” Don Delillo guides the reader on an epic journey through American history and popular culture.
99. dishonor of jm coetzee (1999)
In his booker award-winning masterpiece, coetzee’s intensely human vision infuses a fictional world that invites and confounds political interpretation.
100. true story of the kelly gang by peter carey (2000)
peter carey rounds out our list of literary landmarks with a booker award-winning tour-de-force examining the life and times of infamous Australian anti-hero, ned kelly.
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