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The Greatest Novellas of All Time

No consensus exists as to what constitutes a novella. But for the purposes of this list we are using the definition of a novella as a prose narrative with 17,500 to 40,000 words. Fiction with fewer words may appear on the Greatest Stories list and works with more words may be found on the Greatest Novels list.

A few exceptions have been made however for works that defy categorization by word count.

The Greatest Novellas list is for single novellas that can stand on their own as great literature. Literature series that may include novellas are reserved for the Greatest Novel Series list.

This list is based on the same extensive research carried out to produce The Greatest Literature of All Time, although it includes much more than the novellas on that list. We've made every effort to include the best novellas ranging across all genres, periods and cultures.

Last update: December 24, 2023

The 111 greatest novellas
in chronological order

1516
Utopia
Thomas More
England
novella
1554
Lazarillo de Tormes
Anonymous
Spain
novella
1678
La Princesse de Clèves
Madame de La Fayette
France
novella
1688
Aphra Behn
England
novella
1759
Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia
Samuel Johnson
England
novella
 
Candide
Voltaire
France
novella
1764
Horace Walpole
England
novella
1800
Maria Edgeworth
Ireland
novella
1811
Michael Kohlhaas
Heinrich von Kleist
Germany
novella
1818
Nightmare Abbey
Thomas Love Peacock
England
novel
1842
Annette Droste-Hülshoff
Germany
novella
Critique   • Quotes   • Buy the book
1843
England
novella
1845
Carmen
Prosper Mérimée
France
novella
1849–1851
Theodor Storm
Germany
novella
1855
Benito Cereno
Herman Melville
United States
novella
1860
First Love
Ivan Turgenev
Russia
novella
1864
Notes From Underground
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Russia
novella
1865
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll
England
novella
1866
The Gambler
Fyodor Dosyoyevsky
Russia
novella
1870
King Lear of the Steppes
Ivan Turgenev
Russia
novella
 
Venus in Furs
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
Germany
novella
1871
Through the Looking-Glass
Lewis Carroll
England
novella
1873
The Enchanted Wanderer
Nikolai Leskov
Russia
novella
1879
Daisy Miller
Henry James
England
novella
1886
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
novella
1889
The Kreutzer Sonata
Leo Tolstoy
Russia
novella
1891
The Duel
Anton Chekhov
Russia
novel
1895
The Time Machine
H.G. Wells
England
novella
1898
The Turn of the Screw
Henry James
United States
novella
1900
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum
United States
novella

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1902
England
novella
 
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Beatrix Potteer
England
novella
 
The Imooralist
André Gide
France
novella
1903
The Beast in the Jungle
Henry James
United States
novella
 
The Call of the Wild
Jack London
United States
novella
1907
Algernon Blackwood
England
novella
1908
The Seven Who Were Hanged
Leonid Andreyev
Russia
novella
1911
Ethan Frome
Edith Wharton
United States
novella
1912
Germany
novella
1916
The Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka
Bohemia
novella
c. 1919
China
novella
1922
Siddhartha
Herman Hesse
Switzerland
novella
1924
Heart of a Dog
Mikhail Bulgakov
Russia
novella
1925
The Shopgirl
Steve Martin
United States
novella
 
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Thornton Wilder
United States
novella
1928
The Machine Stops
E.M. Forster
England
novella
 
Story of the Eye
Georges Bataille
France
novella
1929
Passing
Nella Larsen
United States
novella
1933
A Day Off
Storm Jameson
England
novella
 
Miss Lonelyhearts
Nathanael West
United States
novella
1934
United States
novella
1936
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
H.P. Lovecraft
United States
novella
1937
United States
novella
1938
Who Goes There?
John W. Campbell
United States
novella
1938
Who Goes There?
John W. Campbell
United States
novella
 
Anthem
Ayn Rand
United States
novella
1941
The Royal Game
StefanZweig
Austria
novella
 
The Wife of Martin Guerre
Janet Lewisa
United States
novella
1942
The Outsider
Albert Camus
Algeria
novella
 
Double Indemnity
United States
novella
1945
England
novella
Critique   • Quotes   • Buy the book
 
Pippi Longstocking
Astrid Lindgren
Sweden
novella
1949
The Third Man
Graham Greene
England
novella
1950
The Abbot C
Georges Bataille
France
novella
 
C.S. Lewis
England
novella
1951
The Ballad of the Sad Café
Carson McCullers
United States
novella
1952
United States
novella
 
Baby Is Three
Theodore Sturgeon
United States
novella
1954
Bonjour Tristesse
Francoise Sagan
France
novella
 
Richard Matheson
United States
novella
 
With Folded Hands
JackWilliamson
United States
novella
1955
Pedro Paramo
Juan Rulfo
Mexico
novella
1956
The Fall
Albert Camus
Algeria
novella
 
Seize the Day
Saul Bellow
United States
novella
1957
The Blue of Noon
Georges Bataille
France
novella
1958
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Truman Capote
United States
novella
 
Clifford D. Simak
United States
novella
1959
Goodbye, Columbus
Philip Roth
United States
novella
1961
No One Writes to the Colonel
Gabriel García Márquez
Colombia
novella
 
Cat and Mouse
Günter Grass
Germany
novella
1962
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Russia
novella
1963
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters
United States
novella
 
Seymour: An Introduction
United States
novella
1966
The Crying of Lot 49
Thomas Pynchon
United States
novella
1968
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
United States
novella
1970
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Richard Bach
United States
novella
1972
The Summer Book
Tove Jansson
Finland
novella
 
Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino
Italy
novella
1974
The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum
Heinrich Böll
Germany
novella
1976
A River Runs Through It
Norman Maclean
United States
novella
1978
The Bookshop
Penelope Fitzgerald
England
novella
 
The Persistence of Vision
John Varley
United States
novella
1979
Lust, Caution
Eileen Chang
China
novella
1981
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Gabriel García Márquez
Colombia
novella
1982
The Body
Stephen King
United States
novella
 
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
Stephen King
United States
novella
1984
The Lover
Marguerite Duras
France
novella
 
The House on Mango Street
Sandra Cisneros
United States
novella
1987
The Pigeon
Patrick Süskind
Germany
novella
1993
The Invention of Curried Sausage
Uwe Timm
Germany
novella
1997
Closely Watched Trains
Bohumil Hrabal
Czechia
novella
2000
The Shopgirl
Steve Martin
United States
novella
2002
Coraline
Neil Gaiman
England
novella
2006
The Inheritance of Loss
Kiran Desai
India
novella
2007
The Uncommon Reader
Alan Bennett
England
novella
2011
The Sense of an Ending
Julian Barnes
England
novella
2015
Ghachar Ghocahr
Vivek Shanbhag
India
novella
 
Binti
Nnedi Okorafor
India
novella
2017
All Systems Red
Martha Wells
United States
novella

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