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The 444 Greatest Works of British Literature

This selection of literature from Britain is based on the continuing research carried out for The Greatest Literature of All Time list and is additionally informed by the views of local readers, writers, critics and scholars.

It encompasses the greatest works of British authors in all forms, genres, cultures and periods.

For our purposes here, Britain comprises the countries of England, Scotland and Wales. Ireland, including Northern Ireland, has a separate Greatest list.

This list focuses on major creative—mainly fictional—works, although some shorter or nonfiction writing of literary significance may also be considered.

Latest update: March 18, 2024

c.0700
missing graphic
Beowulf
by Anonymous, England
Epic poem
c.1000
Mabinogion
Anonymous, Wales
Story collection
c.1180
Lais of Marie de France
by Marie de France, England
Poetry collection
1362
The Vision of Piers the Ploughman
by William Langland, England
Poem, also known as Piers Plowman
c.1382–1386
Troilus and Cressida
by Geoffrey Chaucer, England
Poem
1387
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Anonymous, England
Poem
c.1387–1400
The Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer, England
Prose and poetry coillection
1485
Everyman
Anonymous, England
Play
 
Le Morte d'Arthur
by Thomas Malory, England
Novel, also known as The Death of Arturo
1516
Utopia
by Thomas More, England
Novella
1580–1581
Arcadia
by Philip Sidney, England
Novel
1584
Campaspe
by John Lyly, England
Play
1586
The Spanish Tragedy
by Thomas Kyd, England
Play
1587
Tamburlaine the Great
by Christopher Marlowe, England
Play
1589
The Faerie Queen
by Edmund Spenser, England
Poem
 
Satires
by John Donne, England
Poetry collection
c.1591
The Taming of the Shrew
Play
1592
missing graphic
Edward II
by Christopher Marlowe, England
Play
c.1592
Richard III
Play
1594
Doctor Faustus
by Christopher Marlowe, England
Play, also known as The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
 
The Unfortunate Traveller
by Thomas Nashe, England
Novel
 
Battle of Alcazar
by George Peele, England
Play
 
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Play
c.1595
Richard II
Play
c.1596
missing graphic
Romeo and Juliet
Play
1597
Love's Labour's Lost
Play
c.1597
missing graphic
Henry IV, Part 1
Play
 
Henry IV, Part 2
Play
 
missing graphic
The Merchant of Venice
Play
1599
"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"
by Christopher Marlowe, England
Poem
 
As You Like It
Play
 
missing graphic
Julius Caesar
Play
 
Much Ado About Nothing
Play
c.1599
Henry V
Play
1601
missing graphic
Hamlet
Play
1601–1602
Twelfth Night
Play
1604
Measure for Measure
Play
 
missing graphic
Othello
Play
1606
Volpone
by Ben Jonson, England
Play
c.1606
missing graphic
King Lear
Play
 
missing graphic
Macbeth
Play
c.1607
Antony and Cleopatra
Play
c.1608
Coriolanus
Play
1609
missing graphic
Sonnets
Poetry collection includes "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?"; "When, in Disgrace with Fortune and Men's Eyes"; and others
1610
The Alchemist
by Ben Jonson, England
Play
1611
missing graphic
The Tempest
Play
 
The Winter's Tale
Play
 
The White Devil
by John Webster, England
Play
1613
Henry VIII
by William Shakespeare, John Fletcher, England
Play
 
The Duchess of Malfi
by John Webster, England
Play
1622
The Changeling
by Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, England
Play
1633
missing graphic
'Tis Pity She's a Whore
by John Ford, England
Play
1648
Hesperides
by Robert Herrick, England
Poetry collection includes "To the Virgins", "To Make Much of Time", "Upon Julia's Clothes", and others
1667
Paradise Lost
by John Milton, England
Poem
1671
Samson Agonistes
by John Milton, England
Poem
1673
"On His Blindness"
by John Milton, England
Poem
1675
missing graphic
The Country Wife
by William Wycherley, England
Play
1677
The Rover
by Aphra Behn, England
Play
 
missing graphic
All for Love
by John Dryden, England
Play
1678
The Pilgrim's Progress
by John Bunyan, England
Novel
1688
missing graphic
Oroonoko
by Aphra Behn, England
Novella
1700
The Way of the World
by William Congreve, England
Play
1712–1714
missing graphic
The Rape of the Lock
by Alexander Pope, England
Epic poem
1719
missing graphic
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe, England
Novel
1719–1720
Love in Excess
by Eliza Haywood, England
Novel
1722
Moll Flanders
by Daniel Defoe, England
Novel
1724
Roxana
by Daniel Defoe, England
Novel
1728
The Beggar's Opera
by John Gay, England
Play
1728–1742
The Dunciad
by Alexander Pope, England
Epic poem
1740
Pamela
by Samuel Richardson, England
Novel
1741
Shamela
by Henry Fielding, England
Novel
1742
Joseph Andrews
by Henry Fielding, England
Novel
1748
Clarissa
by Samuel Richardson, England
Novel
1748–1749
Fanny Hill
by John Cleland, England
Novel
1749
Tom Jones
by Henry Fielding, England
Novel
 
"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"
by Thomas Gray, England
Poem
1751
Amelia
by Henry Fielding, England
Novel
 
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle
by Tobias Smollett, Scotland
Novel
1752
The Female Quixote
by Charlotte Lennox, Scotland
Novel
1753
Sir Charles Grandison
by Samuel Richardson, England
Novel
1759
Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia
by Samuel Johnson, England
Novella
1759–1767
missing graphic
Tristram Shandy
by Laurence Sterne, England
Novel, also known as The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
1764
The Castle of Otranto
by Horace Walpole, England
Novella
1765
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
by Thomas Percy, England
Poetry collection
1766
missing graphic
The Vicar of Wakefield
by Oliver Goldsmith, England
Novel
1771
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
by Tobias Smollett, Scotland
Novel
1773
missing graphic
She Stoops to Conquer
by Oliver Goldsmith, England
Play
1775
The Rivals
by Richard Sheridan, England
Play
1777
The School for Scandal
by Richard Sheridan, England
Play
1778
Evelina
by Fanny Burney, England
Novel
1786
Vathek
by William Beckford, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect
by Robert Burns, Scotland
Poetry collection
1789–1794
Songs of Innocence and Experience
by William Blake, England
Poetry collection
1791
Life of Samuel Johnson
by James Boswell, England, Biography
1794
"The Tyger"
by William Blake, England
Poem
 
The Mysteries of Udolpho
by Ann Radcliffe, England
Novel
1796
Camilla
by Fanny Burney, England
Novel
 
The Monk
by Matthew Lewis, England
Novel
1797
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, England
Poem
1798–1800
Lyrical Ballads
by William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge, England
Poetry collection
1807
Poems
by William Wordsworth, England
Poetry collection
1811
missing graphic
Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen, England
Novel
1812–1818
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
by George Gordon Byron, England
Poem
1813
missing graphic
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen, England
Novel
1814
missing graphic
Mansfield Park
by Jane Austen, England
Novel
1815
missing graphic
Emma
by Jane Austen, England
Novel
1816
"Kubla Khan"
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, England
Poem
1817
Persuasion
by Jane Austen, England
Novel
 
Rob Roy
by Walter Scott, Scotland
Novel
1818
missing graphic
Northanger Abbey
by Jane Austen, England
Novel
 
Endymion
by John Keats, England
Poem
 
Nightmare Abbey
by Thomas Love Peacock, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley, England
Novel, also known as Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus
 
"Ozymandias"
by Percy Byssche Shelley, England
Poem
1819
Odes
by John Keats, England
Poetry collection
 
Ivanhoe
by Walter Scott, Scotland
Novel
1819–1824
Don Juan
by George Gordon Byron, England
Epic poem
1821
Confessions of an English Opium Eater
by Thomas De Quincey, England
Memoir
1822
The Vision of Judgment
by George Gordon Byron, England
Poem
1824
Julian and Maddalo
by Percy Bysshe Shelley, England
Poem
1834
missing graphic
The Last Days of Pompeii
Novel
1837
The Pickwick Papers
by Charles Dickens, England
Novel
1838
missing graphic
Oliver Twist
by Charles Dickens, England
Novel
1839
missing graphic
Nicholas Nickleby
by Charles Dickens, England
Novel
1842
Windsor Castle
by William Harrison Ainsworth, England
Novel
1843
missing graphic
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, England
Novella
1844
Poems
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, England
Poetry collection, also known as A Drama of Exile, and other Poems
 
The Luck of Barry Lyndon
by William Makepeace Thackeray, England
Novel, also known as The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq.
1847
missing graphic
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë, England
Novel
1848
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
by Anne Brontë, England
Novel
 
Vanity Fair
by William Makepeace Thackeray, England
Novel
1850
Sonnets from the Portuguese
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, England
Poetry collection
 
Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day
by Robert Browning, England
Poem
 
missing graphic
David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens, England
Novel
 
In Memoriam
by Alfred Lord Tennyson, England
Poem
 
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth, England
Poem
1853
missing graphic
Villette
by Charlotte Brontë, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens, England
Novel
 
Cranford
by Elizabeth Gaskell, England
Novel
1854
missing graphic
Hard Times
by Charles Dickens, England
Novel
1854–1855
The Newcomes
by William Makepeace Thackeray, England
Novel
1855
Men and Women
by Robert Browning, England
Poetry collection includes "Love Among the Ruins", "Evelyn Hope", "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came", "Andrea del Sarto", and others
 
North and South
by Elizabeth Gaskell, England
Novel
 
The Warden
by Anthony Trollope, England
Novel
1856
Aurora Leigh
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, England
Poem
1857
missing graphic
Little Dorrit
by Charles Dickens, England
Novel
 
Barchester Towers
by Anthony Trollope, England
Novel
1859
missing graphic
A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens, England
Novel
 
Adam Bede
by George Eliot, England
Novel
 
The Virginians
by William Makepeace Thackeray, England
Novel
1859–1885
Idylls of the King
by Alfred Lord Tennyson, England
Poetry collection
1860
missing graphic
The Woman in White
by Wilkie Collins, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
by George Eliot, England
Novel
1861
missing graphic
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens, England
Novel
 
Silas Marner
by George Eliot, England
Novel
1862
Goblin Market and Other Poems
by Christina Rossetti, England
Poetry collection
1863
Romola
by George Eliot, England
Novel
 
The Water Babies
by Charles Kingsley, England
Novel
1865
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll, England
Novel
 
Our Mutual Friend
by Charles Dickens, England
Novel
missing graphic
The Moonstone
by Wilkie Collins, England
Novel
1869
Lorna Doone
by Richard Blackmore, England
Novel
 
Phineas Finn
by Anthony Trollope, England
Novel
1871
missing graphic
The Coming Race
Novel
 
Through the Looking-Glass
by Lewis Carroll, England
Novella, also known as Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There
1872
missing graphic
Erewhon
by Samuel Butler, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
Middlemarch
by George Eliot, England
Novel
1874
missing graphic
Far from the Madding Crowd
by Thomas Hardy, England
Novel
1875
The Way We Live Now
by Anthony Trollope, England
Novel
1876
Daniel Deronda
by George Eliot, England
Novel
 
The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs
by William Morris, England
Epic poem
1877
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, England
Novel
1878
The Return of the Native
by Thomas Hardy, England
Novel
1880
Workers in the Dawn
by George Gissing, England
Novel
1881
The Black Robe
by Wilkie Collins, England
Novel
1883
missing graphic
Treasure Island
Novel
1885
King Solomon's Mines
by H. Rider Haggard, England
Novel
 
Marius the Epicurean
by Walter Pater, England
Novel
1886
missing graphic
The Mayor of Casterbridge
by Thomas Hardy, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
Kidnapped
Novel
 
missing graphic
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Novella
1887
She
by H. Rider Haggard, England
Novel
1888
A Study in Scarlet
by Arthur Conan Doyle, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
"The Man Who Would Be King"
by Rudyard Kipling, England
Story
1889
Three Men in a Boat
by Jerome K. Jerome, England
Novel
1890
The Sign of Four
by Arthur Conan Doyle, England
Novel
1891
New Grub Street
by George Gissing, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy, England
Novel
 
News From Nowhere
by William Morris, England
Novel
1892
missing graphic
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle, England
Story collection includes "A Scandal in Bohemia", "The Red-Headed League", "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", and others
 
The Diary of a Nobody
by George and Weedon Grossmith, England
Novel
1894
Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle, England
Story collection includes "Silver Blaze", "The Greek Interpreter", "The Final Problem", and others
 
The Jungle Book
by Rudyard Kipling, England
Story collection
1895
Almayer's Folly
by Joseph Conrad, England
Novel
 
The Time Machine
by H.G. Wells, England
Novella
1896
missing graphic
Jude the Obscure
by Thomas Hardy, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
A Shropshire Lad
by A.E. Housman, England
Poetry collection
 
The Well at the World's End
by William Morris, England
Novel
 
The Island of Doctor Moreau
by H.G. Wells, England
Novel
1897
Captains Courageous
by Rudyard Kipling, England
Novel
 
The Invisible Man
by H.G. Wells, England
Novel
1898
The War of the Worlds
by H.G. Wells, England
Novel
1900
missing graphic
Lord Jim
by Joseph Conrad, England
Novel
1901
missing graphic
Kim
by Rudyard Kipling, England
Novel
1902
missing graphic
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad, England
Novella
 
missing graphic
The Hound of the Baskervilles
by Arthur Conan Doyle, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
"The Monkey's Paw"
by W.W. Jacobs, England
Story
1903
missing graphic
The Way of All Flesh
by Samuel Butler, England
Novel
 
The Riddle of the Sands
by Erskine Childers, England
Novel
1904
Nostromo
by Joseph Conrad, England
Novel
1905
missing graphic
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle, England
Story collection includes "The Empty House", "The Norwood Builder", "The Dancing Men", "Charles Augustus Milverton", and others
1906–1921
missing graphic
The Forsyte Saga
by John Galsworthy, England
Novel series includes The Man of Property, In Chancery, To Let, and two interludes
1907
by Algernon Blackwood, England
Story
 
missing graphic
The Secret Agent
by Joseph Conrad, England
Novel
1908
The Old Wives' Tale
by Arnold Bennett, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
The Man Who Was Thursday
by G.K. Chesterton, England
Novel
 
A Room With a View
by E.M. Forster, England
Novel
 
The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, England
Novel
1910
Howards End
by E.M. Forster, England
Novel
1911
The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
The Innocence of Father Brown
by G.K. Chesterton, England
Story collection includes "The Blue Cross", "The Invisible Man", "The Hammer of God", and others
 
missing graphic
Under Western Eyes
by Joseph Conrad, England
Novel
 
"Casting the Runes"
by M.R. James, England
Story
1912
Zuleika Dobson
by Max Beerbohm, England
Novel
 
The Lost World
by Arthur Conan Doyle, England
Novel
1913
Trent's Last Case
by E.C. Bentley, England
Novel
 
Sons and Lovers
by D.H. Lawrence, England
Novel
1914
Waverley
by Walter Scott, Scotland
Novel
 
The Good Soldier
by Ford Maddox Ford, England
Novel
 
The Rainbow
by D.H. Lawrence, England
Novel
 
Of Human Bondage
by W. Somerset Maugham, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
The Thirty-Nine Steps
by John Buchan, Scotland
Novel
1918
Poems
by Gerard Manley Hopkins, England
Poetry collection
1920
Women in Love
by D.H. Lawrence, England
Novel
1922
The Worm Ouroboros
by E.R. Eddison, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
The Waste Land
by T.S. Eliot, England
Poem
 
Life and Death of Harriett Frean
by May Sinclair, England
Novel
1924
The Vortex
by Noel Coward, England
Play
 
A Passage to India
by E.M. Forster, England
Novel
1925
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
by Agatha Christie, England
Novel
 
by T.S. Eliot, England
Poem
 
Parade's End
by Ford Maddox Ford, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
Mrs Dalloway
by Virginia Woolf, England
Novel
1926
Winnie-the-Pooh
by A.A. Milne, England
Story collection
1927
missing graphic
To the Lighthouse
by Virginia Woolf, England
Novel
1928
The Machine Stops
by E.M. Forster, England
Novella
 
The Well of Loneliness
by Radclyffe Hall, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
Point Counter Point
by Aldous Huxley, England
Novel
 
Lady Chatterley's Lover
by D.H. Lawrence, England
Novel
 
Ashenden: Or the British Agent
by W. Somerset Maugham, England
Story collection
 
Orlando
by Virginia Woolf, England
Novel
1929
Good-Bye to All That
by Robert Graves, England
Memoir
 
A High Wind in Jamaica
by Richard Hughes, England
Novel
1930
Private Lives
by Noel Coward, England
Play
 
Strong Poison
by Dorothy L. Sayers, England
Novel
1931
The Waves
by Virginia Woolf, England
Novel
1932
Cold Comfort Farm
by Stella Gibbons, England
Novel
1932
missing graphic
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley, England
Novel
1933
Murder Must Advertise
by Dorothy L. Sayers, England
Novel
1934
missing graphic
Murder on the Orient Express
by Agatha Christie, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
I, Claudius
by Robert Graves, England
Novel
 
The Nine Tailors
by Dorothy L. Sayers, England
Novel
 
A Handful of Dust
by Evelyn Waugh, England
Novel
1935
missing graphic
Gaudy Night
by Dorothy L. Sayers, England
Novel
1936
missing graphic
Eyeless in Gaza
by Aldous Huxley, England
Novel
 
Keep the Aspidistra Flying
by George Orwell, England
Novel
1937
Star Maker
by Olaf Stapledon, England
Novel
 
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
by J.R.R. Tolkien, England
Novel
1937–1967
Horatio Hornblower
by C.S. Forester, England
Novel series
1938
Cause for Alarm
by Eric Ambler, England
Novel
 
Rebecca
by Daphne du Maurier, England
Novel
 
Brighton Rock
by Graham Greene, England
Novel
 
Scoop
by Evelyn Waugh, England
Novel
 
The Sword in the Stone
by T.H. White, England
Novel
 
The Code of the Woosters
by P.G. Wodehouse, England
Novel
 
The Years
by Virginia Woolf, England
Novel
1939
The Mask of Dimitrios
by Eric Ambler, England
Novel, also known as A Coffin for Dimitrios
 
missing graphic
And Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie, England
Novel, also known as Ten Little Indians
 
Rogue Male
by Geoffrey Household, England
Novel
 
Goodbye to Berlin
by Christopher Isherwood, England
Novel
1939–1943
Lark Rise to Candleford
by Flora Thompson, England
Novel series includes Lark Rise, Over to Candleford, and Candleford Green.
1940
The Power and the Glory
by Graham Greene, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
Darkness at Noon
by Arthur Koestler, England
Novel
1941
Blithe Spirit
by Noel Coward, England
Play
1944
Green for Danger
by Christianna Brand, England
Novel
 
The Horse's Mouth
by Joyce Cary, England
Novel
 
The Razor's Edge
by W. Somerset Maugham, England
Novel
1945
Loving
by Henry Green, England
Novel
 
Animal Farm
by George Orwell, England
Novella
 
missing graphic
Brideshead Revisited
by Evelyn Waugh, England
Novel
1946
The Moving Toyshop
by Edmund Crispin, England
Novel
1946–1959
Gormenghast
by Mervyn Peake, England
Novel series
1947
The Age of Anxiety
by W.H. Auden, England
Poem
 
Under the Volcano
by Malcolm Lowry, England
Novel
 
A Case to Answer
by Edgar Lustgarten, England
Novel, also known as One More Unfortunate
1948
All About H. Hatterr
by G.V. Desani, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
The Heart of the Matter
by Graham Greene, England
Novel
 
The Franchise Affair
by Jospehine Tey, England
Novel
1949
The Third Man
by Graham Greene, England
Novella
 
missing graphic
Nineteen Eighty-Four
by George Orwell, England
Novel
1950
Smallbone Deceased
by Michael Gilbert, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
A Town Like Alice
by Nevil Shute, England
Novel
1950–1956
missing graphic
by C.S. Lewis, England
Novel series includes The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; and others
1951
The End of the Affair
by Graham Greene, England
Novel
 
The Day of the Triffids
by John Wyndham, England
Novel
 
The Daughter of Time
by Josephine Tey, Scotland
Novel
1951–1975
A Dance to the Music of Time
by Anthony Powell, England
Novel series
1952
The Tiger in the Smoke
by Margery Allingham, England
Novel
1953
Childhood's End
by Arthur C. Clarke, England
Novel
 
From Russia With Love
by Ian Fleming, England
Novel
 
The Go-Between
by L.P. Hartley, England
Novel
1954
Lucky Jim
by Kingsley Amis, England
Novel
 
Lord of the Flies
by William Golding, England
Novel
 
Under the Net
by Iris Murdoch, England
Novel
1954–1955
Lord of the Rings
by J.R.R. Tolkien, England
Novel
1955
missing graphic
The Quiet American
by Graham Greene, England
Novel
 
The Chrysalids
by John Wyndham, England
Novel
1956
The City and the Stars
by Arthur C. Clarke, England
Novel
 
Look Back in Anger
by John Osburn, England
Play
1957
The Birthday Party
by Harold Pinter, England
Play
 
On the Beach
by Nevil Shute, England
Novel
 
The Midwich Cuckoos
by John Wyndham, England
Novel
1957–1960
The Alexandria Quartet
by Laurence Durrell, England
Novel series
1958
The Caretaker
by Harold Pinter, England
Play
 
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
by Alan Sillitoe, England
Novel
 
The Once and Future King
by T.H. White, England
Novel
1959
Cider With Rosie
by Laurie Lee, England
Novel
 
The Golden Notebook
by Doris Lessing, England
Novel
1960
A Man for All Seasons
by Robert Bolt, England
Play
1961
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
by Muriel Spark, Scotland
Novel
1962
Hothouse
by Brian W. Aldiss, England
Novel
 
The Drowned World
by J.G. Ballard, England
Novel
 
A Clockwork Orange
by Anthony Burgess, England
Novel
 
The IPCRESS File
by Len Deighton, England
Novel
1963
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
by John Le Carré, England
Novel
1964
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
by Rouald Dahl, Wales
Novel
1965
The Homecoming
by Harold Pinter, England
Play
1966
The Crystal World
by J.G. Ballard, England
Novel
 
The Magus
by John Fowles, England
Novel
 
The Black Sheep
by Georgette Heyer, England
Novel
 
The Wide Sargasso Sea
by Jean Rhys, England
Novel
 
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
by Tom Stoppard, England
Play
1968
2001: A Space Odyssey
by Arthur C. Clarke, England
Novel
1969
missing graphic
The French Lieutenant's Woman
by John Fowles, England
Novel
 
Master and Commander
by Patrick O'Brian, England
Novel
 
What the Butler Saw
by Joe Orton, England
Play
1970
Troubles
by J.G. Farrell, England
Novel
 
Crow
by Ted Hughes, England
Poetry collection
1971
The Day of the Jackal
by Frederick Forsyth, England
Novel
1972
Watership Down
by Richard Adams, England
Novel
 
Rendezvous with Rama
by Arthur C. Clarke, England
Novel
1973
Crash
by J.G. Ballard, England
Novel
 
The Siege of Krishnapur
by J.G. Farrell, England
Novel
 
Equus
by Peter Shaffer, England
Play
1974
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
by John le Carré, England
Novel
1975
The Eagle Has Landed
by Jack Higgins, England
Novel
1976
A Demon in My View
by Ruth Rendell, England
Novel
1978
The Bookshop
by Penelope Fitzgerald, England
Novella
 
missing graphic
Eye of the Needle
by Ken Follett, England
Novel
 
Rumpole of the Bailey
by John Mortimer, England
Story collection
 
The Sea, the Sea
by Iris Murdoch, England
Novel
1979
The Bloody Chamber and other Stories
by Angela Carter, England
Story collection
 
Cloud 9
by Caryl Churchill, England
Play
 
Smiley's People
by John le Carré, England
Novel
 
Amadeus
by Peter Shaffer, England
Play
1979–1992
missing graphic
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams, England
Novel series includes The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and others
1981
Lanark
by Alasdair Graye, Scotland
Novel
1982
Noises Off
by Michael Frayn, England
Play
 
A Pale View of Hills
by Kazuo Ishiguro, England
Novel
 
The False Inspector Dew
by Peter Lovesey, England
Novel
1983–2015
Discworld
by Terry Pratchett, England
Novel series
1984
Money
by Martin Amis, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
Empire of the Sun
by J.G. Ballard, England
Novel
 
Flaubert's Parrot
by Julian Barnes, England
Novel
 
Hotel du Lac
by Anita Brookner, England
Novel
 
Fire and Hemlock
by Diana Wynne Jones, England
Novel
1985
The Tenth Man
by Graham Greene, England
Novella
1986
The Old Devils
by Kingsley Amis, England
Novel
 
An Artist of the Floating World
by Kazuo Ishiguro, England
Novel
 
A Taste for Death
by P.D. James, England
Novel
 
Howl's Moving Castle
by Diana Wynne Jones, England
Novel
 
A Dark-Adopted Eye
by Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell), England
Novel
1987
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
by Douglas Adams, England
Novel
 
The Radiant Way
by Margaret Drabble, England
Novel
 
Watchmen
by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, England, Graphic novel
1989
London Fields
by Martin Amis, England
Novel
 
The Pillars of the Earth
by Ken Follett, England
Novel
 
The Remains of the Day
by Kazuo Ishiguro, England
Novel
 
Devices and Desires
by P.D. James, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
The Quincunx
by Charles Palliser, England
Novel
1990
Possession
by A.S. Byatt, England
Novel
1991–1995
missing graphic
The Regeneration Trilogy
by Pat Barker, England
Novel series includes Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, The Ghost Road
1992
Memories of Rain
by Sunetra Gupta, England
Novel
 
Children of Men
by P.D. James, England
Novel
 
Written on the Body
by Jeanette Winterson, England
Novel
1993
A Dead Man in Deptford
by Anthony Burgess, England
Novel
 
Birdsong
by Sebastian Faulks, England
Novel
 
Arcadia
by Tom Stoppard, England
Play
1994
What a Carve Up!
by Jonathan Coe, England
Novel
 
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
by Louis de Bernieres, England
Novel
 
How Late It Was, How Late
by James Kelman, Scotland
Novel
1995
High Fidelity
by Nick Hornby, England
Novel
1995–2000
His Dark Materials
by Philip Pullman, England
Novel series includes Northern Lights (The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass.
1996
Last Orders
by Graham Swift, England
Novel
1997–2007
Harry Potter series
by J.K. Rowling, England
Novel series includes Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone; ...and the Chamber of Secrets; ...and the Prisoner of Azkaban; and others.
1998
Amsterdam
by Ian McEwan, England
Novel
2000
Emotionally Weird
by Kate Atkinson, England
Novel
 
Perdido Street Station
by China Miéville, England
Novel
 
White Teeth
by Zadie Smith, England
Novel
2001
American Gods
by Neil Gaiman, England
Novel
 
The Other Boleyn Girl
by Phillipa Gregory, England
Novel
 
missing graphic
Atonement
by Ian McEwan, England
Novel
2002
Coraline
by Neil Gaiman, England
Novella
 
Dart
by Alice Oswald, England
Poetry collection
 
Fingersmith
by Sarah Waters, Wales
Novel
2003
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by Mark Haddon, England
Novel
2004
The History Boys
by Alan Bennett, England
Play
 
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
by Susanna Clarke, England
Novel
 
Stuff Happens
by David Hare, England
Play
 
The Line of Beauty
by Alan Hollinghurst, England
Novel
 
Small Island
by Andrea Levy, England
Novel
 
Cloud Atlas
by David Mitchell, England
Novel
2005
Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro, England
Novel
 
On Beauty
by Zazie Smith, England
Novel
2006
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Disturbances
by Neil Gaiman, England
Story collection
 
The Thirteenth Tale
by Diane Setterfield, England
Novel
2006–2015
Cicero Trilogy
by Robert Harris, England
Novel
2007
The Uncommon Reader
by Alan Bennett, England
Novella
2007–2011
Conqueror
by Conn Iggulden, England
Novel series
2007–2017
The Adventures of Hector Lynch
by Tim Severin, England
Novel series
2008
The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman, England
Novel
 
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
by Kate Summerscale, England
Nonfiction novel
2009
Jerusalem
by Jez Butterworth, England
Play
 
Wolf Hall
by Hilary Mantel, United States
Novel
 
The City & the City
by China Miéville, England
Novel
2010
The Finkler Question
by Howard Jacobson, England
Novel
 
The Long Song
by Andrea Levy, England
Novel
 
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet
by David Mitchell, England
Novel
2011
The Sense of an Ending
by Julian Barnes, England
Novella
 
Family Values
by Wendy Cope, England
Poetry collection
2014
Outline
by Rachel Cusk, England
Novel
2019
Girl, Woman, Other
by Bernardine Evarista, England
Novel

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