The 25 best literary novels
The 25 highest-ranked literary novels in our ranking of 2,816, scored on how much readers love them, their prize, best-list and bestseller record, and current buzz. We rank 309 literary novels in all. How we rank
- 1
Demon Copperhead96.3Must-Read ScoreDemon Copperhead
Dickens's David Copperfield, moved to the mountains of Lee County, Virginia, in the 1990s and 2000s.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2023)Women's Prize for Fiction winner (2023)81 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2022Goodreads Choice (fiction) finalist (2022) - 2
All the Light We Cannot See92.9Must-Read ScoreAll the Light We Cannot See
Marie-Laure, blind since six, lives in Paris with her father, who builds her a miniature of their neighborhood so she can learn its streets by touch.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2015)#1 New York Times bestseller (3 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2015 and 2016 (Publishers Weekly)National Book Award (Fiction) finalist (2014) - 3
Americanah91.9Must-Read ScoreAmericanah
Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love as teenagers in military-ruled Nigeria.
Why it made the listNBCC Award (Fiction) winner (2013)79 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2013Women's Prize for Fiction finalist (2014)NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 4
A Little Life89.9Must-Read ScoreA Little Life
Four friends move to New York after college: Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a painter; Malcolm, an architect; and Jude, a brilliant, private lawyer whose past is a mystery.
Why it made the list43 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2016Booker Prize finalist (2015)National Book Award (Fiction) finalist (2015)Guardian 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 5
Pachinko89.0Must-Read ScorePachinko
In 1910s Korea, under Japanese occupation, a fisherman's daughter named Sunja falls for a wealthy stranger and becomes pregnant, then learns he's married.
Why it made the list49 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2017National Book Award (Fiction) finalist (2017)NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 6
Shuggie Bain88.4Must-Read ScoreShuggie Bain
Glasgow in the 1980s, as Thatcher's policies close the mines and factories and the city sinks into poverty.
Why it made the listBooker Prize winner (2020)National Book Award (Fiction) finalist (2020) - 7
The Nickel Boys88.1Must-Read ScoreThe Nickel Boys
In early-1960s Tallahassee, Elwood Curtis is a bright, principled Black teenager inspired by the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2020)25 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2019NBCC Award (Fiction) finalist (2019) - 8
Remarkably Bright Creatures87.4Must-Read ScoreRemarkably Bright Creatures
Since her husband died, seventy-year-old Tova Sullivan has worked the night shift cleaning the Sowell Bay Aquarium, and she's been grieving for much longer: her eighteen-year-old son vanished on a boat in Puget Sound more than thirty years ago.
Why it made the list133 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2022Goodreads Choice (fiction) finalist (2022) - 9
Hamnet87.2Must-Read ScoreHamnet
In Stratford in 1596, Agnes, an unusual woman who keeps bees and understands herbs, has three children with her husband, a Latin tutor who now works in London.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2020)NBCC Award (Fiction) winner (2020) - 10
The Great Believers86.7Must-Read ScoreThe Great Believers
Chicago, 1985.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist (2019)National Book Award (Fiction) finalist (2018)NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 11
A Man Called Ove86.7Must-Read ScoreA Man Called Ove
Ove is a curmudgeon with strict routines, strong principles and a short fuse, the neighbor everyone calls bitter.
Why it made the listOne of the ten best-selling books of 2016 and 2017 (Publishers Weekly)98 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2015 - 12
Half of a Yellow Sun86.6Must-Read ScoreHalf of a Yellow Sun
In 1960s Nigeria, Ugwu, a thirteen-year-old village boy, goes to work as a houseboy for Odenigbo, a radical university professor.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2007)Guardian 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 13
East of Eden86.3Must-Read ScoreEast of Eden
In California's Salinas Valley, from the Civil War to World War I, Steinbeck follows two families: his own ancestors, the large, warm Hamilton clan led by the inventive Samuel, and the troubled Trasks.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (11 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 1952 (Publishers Weekly)BBC's The Big Read - 14
The Kite Runner86.1Must-Read ScoreThe Kite Runner
Amir is the privileged son of a wealthy man in 1970s Kabul, and his closest companion is Hassan, the son of his father's servant.
Why it made the listOne of the best-selling books ever (about 31.5 million copies)156 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2008 - 15
The Overstory85.7Must-Read ScoreThe Overstory
Nine strangers each have a life shaped by trees.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2019)75 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2018Booker Prize finalist (2018)NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 16
Girl, Woman, Other85.4Must-Read ScoreGirl, Woman, Other
Twelve characters, mostly Black British women, tell interlocking stories that range across a century.
Why it made the listBooker Prize winner (2019)Women's Prize for Fiction finalist (2020) - 17
Angle of Repose85.3Must-Read ScoreAngle of Repose
Lyman Ward, a retired historian confined to a wheelchair and estranged from his family, sets out to write about his grandmother, Susan Burling Ward, a talented artist from the East who married a mining engineer in the 1870s and followed him to the raw mining camps of California, Colorado, Mexico and Idaho.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (1972)Modern Library 100 Best Novels - 18
Me Before You85.1Must-Read ScoreMe Before You
Louisa Clark is twenty-six, cheerful and stuck in a small English town, until she loses her job at the café.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (7 weeks at #1)128 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2013 - 19
The Hate U Give85.0Must-Read ScoreThe Hate U Give
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she grew up and the wealthy, mostly white suburban school she attends.
Why it made the list258 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2017 - 20
The Underground Railroad84.6Must-Read ScoreThe Underground Railroad
Cora is an enslaved young woman on a cotton plantation in Georgia, an outcast even among the other enslaved people.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2017)National Book Award (Fiction) winner (2016)51 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2016Booker Prize longlist (2017) - 21
Citizen84.3Must-Read ScoreCitizen
Claudia Rankine's book is part poetry, part essay and part art book, built from the small, daily moments in which race intrudes: a colleague's careless remark, a stranger who won't sit beside you on a train, a friend who calls you by the wrong name.
Why it made the listNYT 100 Best Books of the 21st CenturyGuardian 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - 22
Schindler's List84.2Must-Read ScoreSchindler's List
Oskar Schindler was a German businessman, Nazi Party member, war profiteer, drinker and womanizer who came to Kraków to make money from cheap Jewish labor.
Why it made the listBooker Prize winner (1982) - 23
My Friends84.0Must-Read ScoreMy Friends
In 1984, Khaled, a young Libyan studying in Edinburgh, joins a protest outside the Libyan embassy in London and is shot when gunmen inside open fire.
Why it made the listNBCC Award (Fiction) winner (2024)National Book Award (Fiction) finalist (2024)Booker Prize longlist (2024) - 24
Big Little Lies83.9Must-Read ScoreBig Little Lies
On a beautiful Australian peninsula, a school trivia night ends with someone dead.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)73 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2014 - 25
My Friends83.9Must-Read ScoreMy Friends
A famous painting shows a group of teenagers on a pier by the sea one summer long ago.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (fiction) winner (2025)#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)30 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2025
