12 Novels Considered the 'Best Fiction Books of All Time'

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Literary critics, historians, avid readers and even casual readers will all have different opinions on which novel is truly the 'best book ever written'. Is it a novel with beautiful, captivating figurative language? Or one with gritty realism? A novel with enormous social impact? Or one that has more subtly influenced the world? Here is a list of 12 novels that, for various reasons, were considered some of the greatest works of literature ever written.

Anna Karenina

Greta Garbo in Anna Karenina
Greta Garbo in Anna Karenina (1935), directed by Clarence Brown.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.

Any lover of tales of juicy topics like adultery, gambling, wedding composition and, well, Russian feudalism, would instantly put Anna Karenina at the top of their list of 'greatest novels'. And that is precisely the ranking that publications such as Time magazine have given the novel since it was published in its entirety in 1878. Written by Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, the eight-part towering work of fiction tells the story of two main characters: a tragic, disenchanted housewife, the titular Anna, who runs off with her young lover, and a lovelorn landowner named Konstantin Levin, who struggles in faith and philosophy. Tolstoy poses thoughtful discussions of love, pain, and family in Russian society with a significant cast of characters considered their realistic humanity. The novel was especially revolutionary in its treatment of women, depicting the prejudices and social hardships of the time with vivid emotions.

To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird
This book cover is one of many given to Harper Lee's classic work To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). The novel won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961, and the following year it was made into an Academy Award-winning film.
Grand Central Publishing / Hachette Book Group
Harper Lee, believed to be one of the most influential authors to have ever existed, famously published only one novel (until the controversial sequel was published just before her death in 2015). Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 and immediately became a classic in literature. The novel explores racism in the American South through the innocent wide-eyed of a smart young girl named Jean Louise ("Scout") Finch. The iconic characters, most notably the lovable and righteous lawyer and father Atticus Finch, served as role models and changed perspectives in the United States at a time when tensions around race were high. To Kill a Mockingbird earned the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961 and was made into an Academy Award-winning film in 1962, bringing the story and characters to life and impacting the American social sphere.
The great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Public Domain
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby has been recognized as one of the greatest texts for introducing students to the art of critically reading literature (meaning you may have read it in school). The novel is told from the perspective of a young man named Nick Carraway, who recently moved to New York City and befriended his eccentric nouveau riche neighbor of mysterious origins, Jay Gatsby. The Great Gatsby offers an insider's look at the 1920s Jazz era in United States history while criticizing the idea of the 'American Dream'. Perhaps the best-known aspect of the novel is the album cover - a piercing face projected onto a dark blue night sky and lights from a cityscape - an image also found in a slightly different configuration in the text itself as a key. symbol.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez, 1982.
© Lutfi Ozkok
The late Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez published his most famous work, One Hundred Years of Solitude, in 1967. The novel tells the story of seven generations of the Buendía and follows the founding of their city of Macondo to destruction along with the last descendants of the family. In fantastic form, the novel explores the genre of magical realism by emphasizing the extraordinary nature of everyday things, while mystical things turn out to be ordinary. Márquez emphasizes the prevalence and power of myth and folktale in relating history and Latin American culture. The novel won numerous awards for Márquez and led the way to his eventual honor of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982 for his entire body of work, of which One Hundred Years of Solitude is often hailed as his most triumphant.
A passage to India
EM Forster
EM Forster.
BBC Hulton Picture Library
EM Forster wrote his novel A Passage to India after several trips to the country during his early life. Published in 1924, the book follows a Muslim Indian doctor named Aziz and his relationship with an English professor, Cyril Fielding, and a visiting English teacher named Adela Quested. When Adela believes that Aziz attacked her on a trip to the Marabar Caves near the fictional town of Chandrapore, where the story is set, tensions between the Indian community and the colonial British community mount. The possibility of friendship and connection between English and Indian people, despite their cultural differences and imperial tensions, is explored in the conflict. The colorful descriptions of nature, the landscape of India and the figurative power they get in the text make it a great fictional work.
Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
Ralph Ellison, 1952
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Often mistaken for HG Wells's science-fiction novella of almost the same name (just subtracting a "The"), Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is a seminal novel in the expression of identity for the African American man. The novel's narrator, a man who has never been named by name but believes he is socially 'invisible' to others, tells the story of his move from south to college and then to New York City. In every location, he faces extreme adversity and discrimination, falling in and out of work, relationships, and questionable social movements into a quirky and ethereal mindset. The novel is known for its surreal and experimental writing style that explores the symbolism surrounding African American identity and culture. Invisible Man won the US National Book Award for Fiction in 1953.
Don Quixote
Don Quixote
Don Quixote (right) and his servant Sancho Panza are depicted in an illustration from book Don QuixoteMiguel de Cervantes'. The illustration appeared in an edition of the book published in the 19th century.
Public Domain
Miguel de Cervantes's DonQuixote, arguably the most influential and well-known work of Spanish literature, was first published in full in 1615. The novel, which is very regularly regarded as one of the best literary works of all time , tells the story of a man who takes the name "Don Quixote de la Mancha" and in a fit of obsession begins romantic novels about chivalry in order to revive the habit and become a hero himself. Don Quixote's character has become an idol and somewhat archetypal character, and has influenced many important works of art, music and literature since the novel's publication. The lyrics have been so influential that a word, quixotic, based on the Don Quixote character, was created to describe someone who is "foolishly impractical, especially in the pursuit of ideals; especially: characterized by brash lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous. action. ”
Beloved
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison, 1994.
Kathy Willens - AP / Shutterstock.com
Toni Morrison's1987 spiritual and haunting novel Beloved tells the story of an escaped slave named Sethe who fled to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1873. The novel explores the trauma of slavery even after freedom is attained, showing Sethe's guilt and emotional pain after killing her own child, whom she called Beloved, to keep her from living as a slave. A spectral figure appears in the lives of the characters and bears the same name as the child, who embodies the family's fear and hardship and makes their feelings and past inevitable. The novel has been praised for examining the psychological effects of slavery and the importance of family and community in healing. Beloved was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988.
Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection / Library of Congress, Washington, DC (neg. No. LC-USZ62-111438)
Perhaps the most idiosyncratic novel on this list, Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway describes exactly one day in the life of a British socialite named Clarissa Dalloway. Using a combination of a third person narration and the thoughts of different characters, the novel uses a stream of consciousness all the time. The result of this style is a very personal and revealing look into the minds of the characters, with the novel relying heavily on character rather than plot to tell the story. The characters' thoughts include constant regrets and past thoughts, their struggles with World War I mental illness and post-traumatic stress, and the effect of social pressure. The novel's unique style, subject matter, and timing make it one of the most revered and appreciated works of all time.
Things are falling apart
The Western canon of "great literature" often focuses on writers from North America or Europe, and often ignores experienced writers and amazing literary works from other parts of the world. Chinua Achebe's Things FallApart, published in 1958, is one such work of African literature that has had to overcome the prejudice of some literary circles and one that has been able to gain worldwide recognition despite it. The novel follows an Igbo man named Okonkwo, who describes his family, the village in Nigeria where he lives, and the effects of British colonialism on his native country. The novel exemplifies African postcolonial literature, a genre that has grown in size and recognition since the mid-20th century as African people have been able to share their often unheard stories of imperialism from the perspective of the colonized. The novel is often used for reading in courses on world literature and African studies.
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre
Illustration by Fritz Eichenberg for an American edition by Jane Eyre.
CharlotteBrontë's JaneEyre, another novel often assigned for reading in school, was initially published in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell to disguise the fact that the writer was a woman. Fortunately, much has changed with regard to women in literature since 1847, and Brontë now gets the credit she deserves for one of the most groundbreaking novels about women in history. At a time when the author felt compelled to hide her true identity, Jane Eyre told a story of individualism for women. The novel's eponymous character develops from an orphaned and poor to a successful and independent woman. The work blends themes from both Gothic and Victorian literature and revolutionized the art of the novel by focusing on the growth of Jane's sensibility with internalized action and writing.
The Color Purple
Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple
Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple (1985).
While the letter novel (a novel in the form of letters written by one or more characters) was most popular before the 19th century, Alice Walker became a champion of the style with her 1982 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award - winning novel The Color Purple. Set in the post-Civil War American South, the novel follows a young African-American girl named Celie into adulthood in letters she writes to God and to her sister Nettie. Faced with sexual abuse from her father and ultimately her husband, Celie describes her own suffering and growth as well as that of her friends and family. The novel explores themes of sexism, racism, gender, sexual orientation, and disability by the group of disadvantaged and damaged characters who over time come to determine their own lives. The story was adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film in 1985 which, despite widespread critical acclaim, was notoriously rejected from all 11 awards for which it was nominated.