The Great Believers
American novelist, born 1978.
The Great Believers is a 2018 novel by Rebecca Makkai. It was shortlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction in 2018.
In family saga, LGBTQ+
On 3 of the 15 lists it was eligible for.
The Novel Index earns a small commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never affects our rankings. More about how we earn.
At a glance
- Author
- Rebecca Makkai
- First published
- 2018
- Length
- 528 pages (UK paperback)
- Awards
- National Book Award for Fiction shortlist, 2018
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction shortlist, 2019
- Genre
- Literary fiction, LGBTQ+, Family saga
Is The Great Believers worth reading?
3 of the 15 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them the National Book Award for Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| National Book Award for Fiction (winners and finalists) (National Book Foundation, 2018) | Shortlist | See the list |
| Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (winners and finalists) (Columbia University, 2019) | Shortlist | See the list |
| The 100 best books of the 21st century (The New York Times, 2024) | No. 64 | See the list |
Best edition of The Great Believers
The edition we link to is the Fleet paperback (2019), 528 pages.
- Publisher
- Fleet (paperback, 2019)
- Pages
- 528
- ISBN
- 9780708899120
How critics, prizes and readers rate The Great Believers
Prize juries rate it most highly: it earned 27% of the points available on prize lists, against 18% on critics' lists and 0% 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 The Great Believers
If you liked The Great Believers, try Wolf Hall, Midnight's Children or Beloved.
