
Beloved
American novelist, 1931–2019. Won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988.
Beloved is a 1987 novel by Toni Morrison. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988.
On 9 of the 17 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Toni Morrison
- First published
- 1987
- Length
- 352 pages (UK paperback)
- Awards
- National Book Award for Fiction shortlist, 1987
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner, 1988
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Black American, Historical setting, Gothic
Is Beloved worth reading?
9 of the 17 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009) | No. 50 | See the list |
| 100 novels that shaped our world (BBC Arts, 2019) | Listed | See the list |
| All-Time 100 Novels (Time, 2005) | Listed | See the list |
| Bokklubben World Library (Norwegian Book Clubs, 2002) | Listed | See the list |
| National Book Award for Fiction (winners and finalists) (National Book Foundation, 1987) | Shortlist | See the list |
| Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (winners and finalists) (Columbia University, 1988) | Winner | See the list |
| Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 20 | See the list |
| The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 2 | See the list |
| The Great American Read (PBS, 2018) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of Beloved
The edition we link to is the Vintage Classics paperback (2007), 352 pages.
- Publisher
- Vintage Classics (paperback, 2007)
- Pages
- 352
- ISBN
- 9780099511656
How critics, prizes and readers rate Beloved
Prize juries rate it most highly: it earned 83% of the points available on prize lists, against 54% on critics' lists and 34% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like Beloved
If you liked Beloved, try Song of Solomon, Sula or The Bluest Eye.



