Cover of Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell, 1949

British novelist, 1903–1950.

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a 1949 novel by George Orwell.

All-Time Canon
  • Stood the Test of Time

In science fiction, dystopian

On 14 of the 16 lists it was eligible for.

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At a glance

Author
George Orwell
First published
1949
Length
432 pages (UK paperback)
Genre
Science fiction, Dystopian, Political

Is Nineteen Eighty-Four worth reading?

14 of the 16 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian) and The Big Read top 100 (BBC).

ListPlaceOriginal
100 Best Novels (board's list) (Modern Library, 1998)No. 13See the list
100 books of the century (Le Monde, 1999)No. 22See the list
100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (Amazon.co.uk, 2014)ListedSee the list
100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009)No. 21See the list
100 novels that shaped our world (BBC Arts, 2019)ListedSee the list
All-Time 100 Novels (Time, 2005)ListedSee the list
Bokklubben World Library (Norwegian Book Clubs, 2002)ListedSee the list
Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026)No. 7See the list
The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian, 2026)No. 16See the list
The 100 best novels written in English (The Guardian / Observer, 2015)ListedSee the list
The 100 greatest British novels (BBC Culture, 2015)No. 12See the list
The 100 greatest novels of all time (The Observer, 2003)ListedSee the list
The Big Read top 100 (BBC, 2003)No. 8See the list
The Great American Read (PBS, 2018)ListedSee the list

Best edition of Nineteen Eighty-Four

The edition we link to is the Wordsworth Editions paperback (2021), 432 pages.

Publisher
Wordsworth Editions (paperback, 2021)
Pages
432
ISBN
9781840228021

How critics and readers rate Nineteen Eighty-Four

Critics rate it most highly: it earned 88% of the points available on critics' lists, against 77% on readers' and booksellers' lists.

Critics
88%
Prizes
Not eligible for any of these lists yet
Readers and booksellers
77%

Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work

Books like Nineteen Eighty-Four

If you liked Nineteen Eighty-Four, try Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies or Brave New World.

Lists used on this page