The 100 greatest novels of all time: The list
From Don Quixote to American Pastoral, take a look at the 100 greatest novels of all time
The 100 greatest non-fiction books
Looking for great book recommendations? Our critics and experts pick the best books, and give the definitive subject lists. And don't forget to look at our list of the 100 greatest non-fiction books
Robert McCrum
The Observer, Sunday 12 October 2003
The greatest novel of all time? ... windmills in La Mancha feature in Miguel de Cervantes' novel Don Quixote. Photograph: Victor Fraile / Reuters
1. Don Quixote Miguel De Cervantes
The story of the gentle knight and his servant Sancho Panza has entranced readers for centuries.
Don Quixote at the Guardian Bookshop
2. Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan
The one with the Slough of Despond and Vanity Fair.
Pilgrim's Progress at the Guardian Bookshop
3. Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe
The first English novel.
Robinson Crusoe at the Guardian Bookshop
4. Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift
A wonderful satire that still works for all ages, despite the savagery of Swift's vision.
Gulliver's Travels at the Guardian Bookshop
5. Tom Jones Henry Fielding
The adventures of a high-spirited orphan boy: an unbeatable plot and a lot of sex ending in a blissful marriage.
Tom Jones at the Guardian Bookshop
6. Clarissa Samuel Richardson
One of the longest novels in the English language, but unputdownable.
Clarissa at the Guardian Bookshop
7. Tristram Shandy Laurence Sterne
One of the first bestsellers, dismissed by Dr Johnson as too fashionable for its own good.
Tristram Shandy at the Guardian Bookshop
8. Dangerous Liaisons Pierre Choderlos De Laclos
An epistolary novel and a handbook for seducers: foppish, French, and ferocious.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Guardian Bookshop
9. Emma Jane Austen
Near impossible choice between this and Pride and Prejudice. But Emma never fails to fascinate and annoy.
Emma at the Guardian Bookshop
10. Frankenstein Mary Shelley
Inspired by spending too much time with Shelley and Byron.
Frankenstein at the Guardian Bookshop
11. Nightmare Abbey Thomas Love Peacock
A classic miniature: a brilliant satire on the Romantic novel.
Nightmare Abbey at Amazon.co.uk
12. The Black Sheep Honore De Balzac
Two rivals fight for the love of a femme fatale. Wrongly overlooked.
The Black Sheep at the Guardian Bookshop
13. The Charterhouse of Parma Stendhal
Penetrating and compelling chronicle of life in an Italian court in post-Napoleonic France.
The Charterhouse of Parma at the Guardian Bookshop
14. The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
A revenge thriller also set in France after Bonaparte: a masterpiece of adventure writing.
The Count of Monte Cristo at the Guardian Bookshop
15. Sybil Benjamin Disraeli
Apart from Churchill, no other British political figure shows literary genius.
Sybil at the Guardian Bookshop
16. David Copperfield Charles Dickens
This highly autobiographical novel is the one its author liked best.
David Copperfield at the Guardian Bookshop
17. Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff have passed into the language. Impossible to ignore.
Wuthering Heights at the Guardian Bookshop
18. Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
Obsessive emotional grip and haunting narrative.
Jane Eyre at the Guardian Bookshop
19. Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray
The improving tale of Becky Sharp.
Vanity Fair at the Guardian Bookshop
20. The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
A classic investigation of the American mind.
The Scarlet Letter at the Guardian Bookshop
21. Moby-Dick Herman Melville
'Call me Ishmael' is one of the most famous opening sentences of any novel.
Moby-Dick at the Guardian Bookshop
22. Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert
You could summarise this as a story of adultery in provincial France, and miss the point entirely.
Madame Bovary at the Guardian Bookshop
23. The Woman in White Wilkie Collins
Gripping mystery novel of concealed identity, abduction, fraud and mental cruelty.
The Woman in White at the Guardian Bookshop
24. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland Lewis Carroll
A story written for the nine-year-old daughter of an Oxford don that still baffles most kids.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at the Guardian Bookshop
25. Little Women Louisa M. Alcott
Victorian bestseller about a New England family of girls.
Little Women at the Guardian Bookshop
26. The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope
A majestic assault on the corruption of late Victorian England.
The Way We Live Now at the Guardian Bookshop
27. Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
The supreme novel of the married woman's passion for a younger man.
Anna Karenina at the Guardian Bookshop
28. Daniel Deronda George Eliot
A passion and an exotic grandeur that is strange and unsettling.
Daniel Deronda at the Guardian Bookshop
29. The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky
Mystical tragedy by the author of Crime and Punishment.
The Brothers Karamazov at the Guardian Bookshop
30. The Portrait of a Lady Henry James
The story of Isabel Archer shows James at his witty and polished best.
The Portrait of a Lady at the Guardian Bookshop
31. Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
Twain was a humorist, but this picture of Mississippi life is profoundly moral and still incredibly influential.
Huckleberry Finn at the Guardian Bookshop
32. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson
A brilliantly suggestive, resonant study of human duality by a natural storyteller.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at the Guardian Bookshop
33. Three Men in a Boat Jerome K. Jerome
One of the funniest English books ever written.
Three Men in a Boat at the Guardian Bookshop
34. The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
A coded and epigrammatic melodrama inspired by his own tortured homosexuality.
The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Guardian Bookshop
35. The Diary of a Nobody George Grossmith
This classic of Victorian suburbia will always be renowned for the character of Mr Pooter.
The Diary of a Nobody at the Guardian Bookshop
36. Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy
Its savage bleakness makes it one of the first twentieth-century novels.
Jude the Obscure
37. The Riddle of the Sands Erskine Childers
A prewar invasion-scare spy thriller by a writer later shot for his part in the Irish republican rising.
The Riddle of the Sands at the Guardian Bookshop
38. The Call of the Wild Jack London
The story of a dog who joins a pack of wolves after his master's death.
The Call of the Wild at the Guardian Bookshop
39. Nostromo Joseph Conrad
Conrad's masterpiece: a tale of money, love and revolutionary politics.
Nostromo at the Guardian Bookshop
40. The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame
This children's classic was inspired by bedtime stories for Grahame's son.
The Wind in the Willows at the Guardian Bookshop
41. In Search of Lost Time Marcel Proust
An unforgettable portrait of Paris in the belle epoque. Probably the longest novel on this list.
In Search of Lost Time at the Guardian Bookshop
42. The Rainbow D. H. Lawrence
Novels seized by the police, like this one, have a special afterlife.
The Rainbow at the Guardian Bookshop
43. The Good Soldier Ford Madox Ford
This account of the adulterous lives of two Edwardian couples is a classic of unreliable narration.
The Good Soldier at the Guardian Bookshop
44. The Thirty-Nine Steps John Buchan
A classic adventure story for boys, jammed with action, violence and suspense.
The Thirty-Nine Steps at the Guardian Bookshop
45. Ulysses James Joyce
Also pursued by the British police, this is a novel more discussed than read.
Ulysses at the Guardian Bookshop
46. Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf
Secures Woolf's position as one of the great twentieth-century English novelists.
Mrs Dalloway at the Guardian Bookshop
47. A Passage to India E. M. Forster
The great novel of the British Raj, it remains a brilliant study of empire.
A Passage to India at the Guardian Bookshop
48. The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
The quintessential Jazz Age novel.
The Great Gatsby at the Guardian Bookshop
49. The Trial Franz Kafka
The enigmatic story of Joseph K.
The Trial at the Guardian Bookshop
50. Men Without Women Ernest Hemingway
He is remembered for his novels, but it was the short stories that first attracted notice.
Men Without Women at the Guardian Bookshop
51. Journey to the End of the Night Louis-Ferdinand Celine
The experiences of an unattractive slum doctor during the Great War: a masterpiece of linguistic innovation.
Journey to the End of the Night at the Guardian Bookshop
52. As I Lay Dying William Faulkner
A strange black comedy by an American master.
As I Lay Dying at the Guardian Bookshop
53. Brave New World Aldous Huxley
Dystopian fantasy about the world of the seventh century AF (after Ford).
Brave New World at the Guardian Bookshop
54. Scoop Evelyn Waugh
The supreme Fleet Street novel.
Scoop at the Guardian Bookshop
55. USA John Dos Passos
An extraordinary trilogy that uses a variety of narrative devices to express the story of America.
USA at the Guardian Bookshop
56. The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler
Introducing Philip Marlowe: cool, sharp, handsome - and bitterly alone.
The Big Sleep at the Guardian Bookshop
57. The Pursuit Of Love Nancy Mitford
An exquisite comedy of manners with countless fans.
The Pursuit of Love at the Guardian Bookshop
58. The Plague Albert Camus
A mysterious plague sweeps through the Algerian town of Oran.
The Plague at the Guardian Bookshop
59. Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
This tale of one man's struggle against totalitarianism has been appropriated the world over.
Nineteen Eighty-Four at the Guardian Bookshop
60. Malone Dies Samuel Beckett
Part of a trilogy of astonishing monologues in the black comic voice of the author of Waiting for Godot.
Malone Dies at the Guardian Bookshop
61. Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
A week in the life of Holden Caulfield. A cult novel that still mesmerises.
Catcher in the Rye at the Guardian Bookshop
62. Wise Blood Flannery O'Connor
A disturbing novel of religious extremism set in the Deep South.
Wise Blood at the Guardian Bookshop
63. Charlotte's Web E. B. White
How Wilbur the pig was saved by the literary genius of a friendly spider.
Charlotte's Web at the Guardian Bookshop
64. The Lord Of The Rings J. R. R. Tolkien
Enough said!
The Lord of the Rings at the Guardian Bookshop
65. Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis
An astonishing debut: the painfully funny English novel of the Fifties.
Lucky Jim at the Guardian Bookshop
66. Lord of the Flies William Golding
Schoolboys become savages: a bleak vision of human nature.
Lord of the Flies at the Guardian Bookshop
67. The Quiet American Graham Greene
Prophetic novel set in 1950s Vietnam.
The Quiet American at the Guardian Bookshop
68 On the Road Jack Kerouac
The Beat Generation bible.
On the Road at the Guardian Bookshop
69. Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
Humbert Humbert's obsession with Lolita is a tour de force of style and narrative.
Lolita at the Guardian Bookshop
70. The Tin Drum Gunter Grass
Hugely influential, Rabelaisian novel of Hitler's Germany.
The Tin Drum at the Guardian Bookshop
71. Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
Nigeria at the beginning of colonialism. A classic of African literature.
Things Fall Apart at the Guardian Bookshop
72. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark
A writer who made her debut in The Observer - and her prose is like cut glass.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the Guardian Bookshop
73. To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee
Scout, a six-year-old girl, narrates an enthralling story of racial prejudice in the Deep South.
To Kill A Mockingbird at the Guardian Bookshop
74. Catch-22 Joseph Heller
'[He] would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.'
Catch-22 at the Guardian Bookshop
75. Herzog Saul Bellow
Adultery and nervous breakdown in Chicago.
Herzog at the Guardian Bookshop
76. One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A postmodern masterpiece.
One Hundred Years of Solitude at the Guardian Bookshop
77. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont Elizabeth Taylor
A haunting, understated study of old age.
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont at the Guardian Bookshop
78. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy John Le Carre
A thrilling elegy for post-imperial Britain.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy at the Guardian Bookshop
79. Song of Solomon Toni Morrison
The definitive novelist of the African-American experience.
Song of Solomon at the Guardian Bookshop
80. The Bottle Factory Outing Beryl Bainbridge
Macabre comedy of provincial life.
The Bottle Factory Outing at the Guardian Bookshop
81. The Executioner's Song Norman Mailer
This quasi-documentary account of the life and death of Gary Gilmore is possibly his masterpiece.
The Executioner's Song at the Guardian Bookshop
82. If on a Winter's Night a Traveller Italo Calvino
A strange, compelling story about the pleasures of reading.
If on a Winter's Night a Traveller at the Guardian Bookshop
83. A Bend in the River V. S. Naipaul
The finest living writer of English prose. This is his masterpiece: edgily reminiscent of Heart of Darkness.
A Bend in the River at the Guardian Bookshop
84. Waiting for the Barbarians J.M. Coetzee
Bleak but haunting allegory of apartheid by the Nobel prizewinner.
Waiting for the Barbarians at the Guardian Bookshop
85. Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson
Haunting, poetic story, drowned in water and light, about three generations of women.
Housekeeping at the Guardian Bookshop
86. Lanark Alasdair Gray
Seething vision of Glasgow. A Scottish classic.
Lanark at the Guardian Bookshop
87. The New York Trilogy Paul Auster
Dazzling metaphysical thriller set in the Manhattan of the 1970s.
The New York Trilogy at the Guardian Bookshop
88. The BFG Roald Dahl
A bestseller by the most popular postwar writer for children of all ages.
The BFG at the Guardian Bookshop
89. The Periodic Table Primo Levi
A prose poem about the delights of chemistry.
The Periodic Table at the Guardian Bookshop
90. Money Martin Amis
The novel that bags Amis's place on any list.
Money at the Guardian Bookshop
91. An Artist of the Floating World Kazuo Ishiguro
A collaborator from prewar Japan reluctantly discloses his betrayal of friends and family.
An Artist of the Floating World at the Guardian Bookshop
92. Oscar And Lucinda Peter Carey
A great contemporary love story set in nineteenth-century Australia by double Booker prizewinner.
Oscar and Lucinda at the Guardian Bookshop
93. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Milan Kundera
Inspired by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, this is a magical fusion of history, autobiography and ideas.
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting at the Guardian Bookshop
94. Haroun and the Sea af Stories Salman Rushdie
In this entrancing story Rushdie plays with the idea of narrative itself.
Haroun and the Sea of Stories at the Guardian Bookshop
95. La Confidential James Ellroy
Three LAPD detectives are brought face to face with the secrets of their corrupt and violent careers.
LA Confidential at the Guardian Bookshop
96. Wise Children Angela Carter
A theatrical extravaganza by a brilliant exponent of magic realism.
Wise Children at the Guardian Bookshop
97. Atonement Ian McEwan
Acclaimed short-story writer achieves a contemporary classic of mesmerising narrative conviction.
Atonement at the Guardian Bookshop
98. Northern Lights Philip Pullman
Lyra's quest weaves fantasy, horror and the play of ideas into a truly great contemporary children's book.
Northern Lights at the Guardian Bookshop
99. American Pastoral Philip Roth
For years, Roth was famous for Portnoy's Complaint . Recently, he has enjoyed an extraordinary revival.
American Pastoral at the Guardian Bookshop
100. Austerlitz W. G. Sebald
Posthumously published volume in a sequence of dream-like fictions spun from memory, photographs and the German past.
Austerlitz at the Guardian
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